The March employment statistics are out today, and one thing is clear from these numbers: people have given up looking for work. We added 88,000 jobs here in the US, but that was dwarfed by the decline in the labor force by 496,000. Yep, about a half-million people just dropped out of the labor force last month.
This was the biggest monthly jump in folks dropping out of the labor force since January 2012, when the BLS did its census reset. To put things in a historical perspective, the labor force participation rate is now at 63.3% - the lowest since 1979! However, the unemployment rate doesn't count those people anymore, so unemployment fell to 7.6%.
This was the biggest monthly jump in folks dropping out of the labor force since January 2012, when the BLS did its census reset. To put things in a historical perspective, the labor force participation rate is now at 63.3% - the lowest since 1979! However, the unemployment rate doesn't count those people anymore, so unemployment fell to 7.6%.
Happy days are here again!
Losing people in the workforce making the unemployment rate better would be like the Braves saying they're giving up trying to get hits when they face Cliff Lee in an effort to raise their batting average.
A wise man I know has accurately commented that "we have reached the point on many individual's labor economics curve where not working is the most attractive option". That's a sad commentary of the state of our country right now. We had a big recession in 2008....five years ago. And we haven't been able to pull out of the ditch. People are just giving up.
What would the unemployment rate be if we actually assumed a normal employment force? Oh, just a rosy 11.6%.
In the meantime, everyone in charge wants to argue about same-sex marriage and gun control. It's probably because they have no freakin' clue as to how to actually deal with the economic problems we face.
Sorry to be an Eeyore on a Friday, but I wish I had better news.
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