"we will provide additional support.”’bernanke, page-30

The unemployment rates are correct and no mystery there.

What people on the know do is to look at them in conjunction with the participation rate. See graph bellow.

And it does not stop there. They also look at the output gap.
That is, they project where the economy would be today if growing at the rates before the crises and compare it with where they think it is.

See other graph bellow for an example.