U.S. Department of Labor figures show that actual unemployment is much higher than the federal government’s number of “officially unemployed” workers. When added to the Department of Labor’s number of workers “not in the work force,” the total comes to 102.2 million — almost 10 million more unemployed since Barack Obama took office.

In response, Carla Howell, political director for the Libertarian Party, made the following statement to Press TV:

Manipulating the unemployment rate is one of many ways that the federal government deceives American voters.

No matter what politicians claim the unemployment rate is, workers searching for jobs know better. They see that Democratic and Republican promises to “stimulate the economy” have utterly failed.

In order to hand out pork and create artificial government jobs for special interests, Democrats and Republicans raise taxes, overspend, discourage investment in small businesses, and keep overall unemployment dangerously high.

The only real cure to unemployment is to drastically and immediately cut taxes and cut government spending. And to remove unneeded government regulations that stifle economic growth. By simply getting government out of the way, we can create millions of productive, private-sector jobs.

The unemployment rate is dangerously high for young workers. They’re trapped between a rock and a hard place. They can’t find jobs reflective of their investment in education while they’re being saddled with school loans they won’t be able to pay off for many years. It’s demoralizing for them and a tremendous waste of young talent and ambition.

But young workers aren’t the only ones affected. Workers of all ages are struggling to find well-paying jobs.

Americans are becoming deeply concerned by Democrats’ and Republicans’ refusal to stop government overspending. Voters fear that the entire economy could suffer a major crash or prolonged recession, much like the decline of many European economies under socialist policies.

The Libertarian Party is the only political party in America dedicated to dramatically reducing government spending, taxation, and debt, creating real economic growth.

Libertarian candidates, such as Danny Bedwell running for the U.S. House in Mississippi, vow to cut government spending dramatically and to regulate the federal government — rather than micromanage the people and businesses of the United States.

This is the kind of Libertarian vision we need in Washington, D.C., to turn around this country. We need to elect every small government Libertarian candidate possible to both federal and local offices, to create millions of private-sector jobs in America.