zappasguitar
Well-known member
368k people left the labor force... The labor participation rate is at it's lowest since 1981. That is not good Zappa.
There are two things that make the unemployment rate drop... people getting jobs and people giving up looking for work. So what was the greater factor this month? The 100k new jobs or the 368k giving up?
Let's talk about WHY the participation rate is dropping...
Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, says labor force participation is on a long-term slide.
"You've got the aging of the baby boom generation," Ashworth notes. "That has been greatly compounded by the effects of the recession and the slow recovery. People are just losing patience" and dropping out of the labor force.
In two or three years, though, Ashworth expects a stronger economy will encourage more Americans to seek work and will push the participation rate up. But the higher participation rates won't last once baby boomer retirements pick up, causing more people to leave the work force, he predicts.
Why no mention of those particulars from anyone Right of center?
Also, I saw no mention of 368,000 people leaving the labor force in the article the OP quoted...where did you get that number from?