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Could you post the text here in the comments? There's a paywall. One issue with the standard unemployment rate calculation is that it's defined as # of unemplo
by getToTheChopin 8y ago
Could you post the text here in the comments? There's a paywall.
One issue with the standard unemployment rate calculation is that it's defined as # of unemployed people divided by the total labor force. The total labor force does not include people who are not looking for work.
So if someone is unemployed and then stops looking for work, they drop out of the equation entirely, and the unemployment rate goes down.
It's important to also have the "labor participation rate" metric (those in the workforce divided by total working age population), which gives more context on the overall trend.
- dv_dt 8y agoIn general the media only does fairly short reports on the unemployment rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) regularly publishes a much wider range of data, including the "labor participation rate" that you're talking about. Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 Data broken down by age: https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/civilian-labor-force-particip...
- getToTheChopin 8y agoThanks for that. Seeing the data broken down by age is really interesting. Young people (16-24) are not participating in the labor force as much as time goes on. On the other hand, there's a significant increase in participation in the population 65+, moving from ~12% in 1996, to ~22% forecasted in 2026. Some of that increase would likely be due to better health / ability to work later in life, but a fair chunk would likely be due to people not being able to afford retirement.