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I don't know the answer to your specific question but I want to mention unemployment may be a misleading number. Unemployment only counts people who are activel
by nommm-nommm 10y ago
I don't know the answer to your specific question but I want to mention unemployment may be a misleading number. Unemployment only counts people who are actively looking for employment. It doesn't include those who have given up and dropped out of the labor market or those who are underemployed. It's only one metric of the health of the workforce and shouldn't be looked at alone.
- matt_s 10y agoGood points. Getting metrics that cover underemployed and apathy would be difficult. Where I was going was that it appears looking backwards to want to bring jobs back that were outsourced for mostly cheaper labor. If US companies could do those things here profitably, they would.
- humanrebar 10y agoYes. Look at how the labor force participation rate has changed over the last ten or twenty years.
- nommm-nommm 10y agoInterestingly I can see a case where a drop in labor force participation is a positive thing, it depends on who is dropping out. I can see more senors retiring and more voluntary stay at home parents being an indication of more general financial security among the population. More people who can afford not to work. However if the drop is in people who want to or need to work that's obviously bad.