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> We are pretty close to full employment. The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 5.7 million in January. T
by adolph 5y ago
> We are pretty close to full employment.
The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 5.7 million in January. This measure decreased by 1.3 million over the year but is 708,000 higher than in February 2020. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.
BLS publication "THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — JANUARY 2022": https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
See also the Labor Force Participation Rate: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART
- vorpalhex 5y ago> These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. I mean, I suppose we can forcibly employ everyone? Anyone not employed in two weeks gets contracted out to the IRS or whatever.. but that doesn't seem to be the goal. If you aren't looking for a job, and you can't take a job.. you aren't going to be employed. That isn't some kind of "only the strong survive" thing, that's just a tautology - you must in fact apply for jobs to get a job. Why do you think "people who aren't looking for jobs aren't employed!" is a response here?
- int_19h 5y agoYou'd need to investigate why those people aren't actively looking to make meaningful conclusions. E.g. if they don't because they tried and consistently failed and just gave up, I think it's fair to count them as unemployed.