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That's because it's not a strong economy. Millions have stopped looking for work and never started after the recession. Wages have stagnated even for white coll
by mnm1 8y ago
That's because it's not a strong economy. Millions have stopped looking for work and never started after the recession. Wages have stagnated even for white collar jobs. Employers are unwilling to pay competitively. Millions like the ones in the article are underemployed and underutilized. How the fuck is that a strong economy?
- slededit 8y agoYou would expect that as the largest cohort in modern history retires en mass that the ratio of people in the work force to those outside would start to shift. I think its valid to say that a lot of baby boomers were discouraged post-2008 and perhaps would have worked an extra decade had things been better. But at this point we're well into their retirement years.
- notadoc 8y agoExcept that, statistically, most baby boomers in the USA have zero to little saved for retirement, and can't afford to retire, and so they keep working.
- slededit 8y agoThey have not saved nearly enough but it hasn't stopped them from retiring. The number to watch is the "old-age dependency ratio" which has risen to 25/200 from 21 per 100 in 2010. The trend is for this number to increase as more boomers surpass 65. As people age their skills and acuity decrease, so while some may want to continue working its not at all a sure thing they'd be able to even if 2008 hadn't happened. I can't think of a good statistic to capture this and we're both looking at second derivative statistics. https://www.wsj.com/articles/retiring-baby-boomers-leave-the-u-s-with-fewer-workers-to-support-the-elderly-1529553660 https://www.wsj.com/articles/retiring-baby-boomers-leave-the...
- ourmandave 8y agoI know a few people who would have retired except they need the health insurance.
- slededit 8y agoIsn't medicare better than most private insurance plans?
- francisofascii 8y agoMedicare doesn't start until 65. So they probably mean would have retired early.
- slededit 8y agoClose to half the baby boomer cohort is 65 or older now. We're not talking about early retirement.
- notadoc 8y agoMaybe a long time ago. Politics have dramatically since changed Medicare, which is why nearly all seniors buy supplement plans today.
- sillyquiet 8y agoYou know, I keep hearing the 'many stopped working during the recession' thing bandied about like received wisdom, and have not seen any statistics to back that up. Note: I am not saying it's not true, just that I personally haven't seen any studies or reports to back up that fact. Have you a link? All the U6 (real) unemployment rate numbers I've seen indicate 'real' unemployment is back to pre-recession numbers
- Kalium 8y agohttps://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 There's this. This doesn't exactly back up the claim - there are a lot of reasons people might not be participating.
- HarryHirsch 8y agoEspecially this: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU01300060 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU01300060 25-54 year Labor Paticipation Rate is those that you'd expect to be working but aren't.
- JumpCrisscross 8y agoThe difference between the 25-54 and civilian participation rates are largely attributable to retiring boomers. Participation rates depend heavily on demographics. They matter for things like dependency ratios. But quoting them without the context of a large generation retiring and increasing time spent getting educated hides the full picture. That said, the 3 percentage point drop in 25-54 participation is largely attributable to the opioid crisis—that’s a disturbing start to a trend.
- mnm1 8y agoHow do you propose such statistics be collected if these people have given up and are no longer looking for a job and are no longer receiving unemployment benefits? I assume this is why the unemployment rate doesn't include these people and therefore doesn't ever reflect reality.