Unemployment reports are misleading

I keep hearing on the news and seeing on the Internet how the unemployment rate is dropping. I just wanted to point out that it is not dropping due to more jobs. People are exhausting their benefits and are no longer able to draw unemployment. This is the reason the rate is dropping.

I'm drawing unemployment, and I am on my second extension. With the fiscal cliff deal made by Congress I am allowed to continue drawing unemployment until I exhaust my current account, which will end at the end of this month. I will not be able to draw on a third extension due to Missouri's rate dropping below 7 percent, and I still don't have a job. But this is not the actual unemployment rate, because when people lose benefits they are no longer counted toward the rate. So we don't know the true unemployment rate. I just believe these reports are misleading.

PATRICIA THOMPSON, Frohna, Mo.