Not all unemployed people should be counted as unemployed. If someone is not looking for a job or making some effort to change their status from unemployed to employed, why should they be counted as unemployed? For instance, I'm not unemployed, I'm retired. Why should the statistics be made to look worse than they are because I'm not looking for a job?
And, don't go for the Republican "they're getting benefits from the government" argument. Most are not. The one's who are drawing unemployment benefits have to be registered with their local state employment office, and must come in when contacted about a job or lose their benefit. Which by the way is for a limited time only anyway. The length of time which a person draws unemployment benefits is determined by how long they spent on a previous job where the employer was required to pay into the UI system for that person. Also, if they use the "I'm too sick to work" argument, their benefits are terminated. UI benefits are available only to people who are ready, willing, and able to take a job meeting their skill/training level. (How do I know? I used to work for the Texas Employment Commission (now known as the Texas Workforce Commission) which was responsible for the collection of UI taxes on employer payrolls and the payment of benefits. (No, you do not pay for your UI benefits. Not one dime. The whole system is paid for by a tax on employers.)