Analysis of OECD data reveals that, contrary to a "brain drain" narrative, British emigration rose before Brexit as citizens used their last chance for free movement. After 2021, outflows experienced a "cliff edge" drop, demonstrating that Brexit had a restrictive, rather than motivating, effect on Britons leaving the country.

Government unemployment statistics are misleading because they count anyone working even one hour a week as 'employed.' A more accurate measure reveals that nearly a quarter of American workers are functionally unemployed, meaning they work for poverty-level wages or can't find full-time work despite wanting it.

Inaccurate headline statistics are not just academic; they actively shape policy. The misleading Consumer Price Index (CPI), for example, is used to determine Social Security benefits, food assistance eligibility, and state-level minimum wages. This means policy decisions are based on a distorted view of economic reality, leading to ineffective outcomes.

The official unemployment rate is misleadingly low because when disgruntled workers give up looking for a job, they exit the labor force and are no longer counted as 'unemployed.' This artificially improves the headline number while masking underlying economic weakness and anger among young job seekers.

The Mexican government's headline statistic on falling murder rates is misleading. A more comprehensive analysis including 'disappeared' persons, femicides, and manslaughter reveals a much more modest, though still significant, decline. This highlights how official data can obscure the full reality of a security situation.

Statisticians now believe local Chinese governments have lied about demographics for over 25 years. The realization came from plummeting tax receipts, suggesting millions of children thought born in the late 90s never existed. The country's population may be overstated by 100-300 million people, accelerating its collapse.

A collapse in public participation in national surveys, such as Britain's Labour Force Survey (from 70% to 20% response), is creating a data crisis. This directly threatens the ability of institutions like central banks to make informed decisions on crucial issues like interest rates.

While historical ADP charts seem to track official Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, this is misleading. In the moment, ADP's estimates are often inaccurate. The firm revises its historical data months later to align with the official BLS numbers, creating an illusion of real-time accuracy.

Official median wage data only tracks full-time employees, completely removing laid-off, low-wage workers from the calculation. This creates a distorted reality where median wages can appear to rise during economic downturns, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, precisely because the lowest earners have lost their jobs and their data is deleted.