3 ms·
Unemployment is only 4.9% because the participation rate dropped 3% points in the last 10 years: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 http://data.bls.gov/
by bb611 10y ago
Unemployment is only 4.9% because the participation rate dropped 3% points in the last 10 years: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
That's close to 10 million people who have stopped looking for jobs who we would otherwise expect to have them.
- krakensden 10y agoBaby Boomers should be leaving the labor market though.
- icebraining 10y agoIt's not just old people: "in 2000, if you happened to be a 20-year-old man with less than a Bachelor's Degree--and when I say 20-year old, I mean in their 20s--21 to 30. About 8% reported not working at all during the prior year. That number, today: About 18%." http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2016/11/erik_hurst_on_w.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2016/11/erik_hurst_on_w.htm...
- berdario 10y agoBut the participation rate can float for a few different reasons http://qz.com/286213/the-chart-obama-haters-love-most-and-the-truth-behind-it/ http://qz.com/286213/the-chart-obama-haters-love-most-and-th... (clickbaity headline, but the contents seem sound)