From time immemorial, statistical information could be used to represent a certain viewpoint by including or excluding certain factors or parameters. Therefore, the interpretation of publicized numbers could lead to the support or rejection of a project, analysis, plan, mission, or undertaking.
“Numbers can seem very concrete, and some are misled by numbers simply because they seem to be fact and have an indisputable value. Thus statistical data can often be used in a misleading fashion to wow people with numbers, and make things in dispute seem more like fact,” according to the article “Can Statistics be Misleading?” on the wiseGEEK website.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and a number of economists’ websites have presented the U.S. unemployment numbers in different forms, using different parameters, overpowering people with different interpretations, and confusing the issue.
