Labor Force Participation Rate Lowest Since 1981

[OccupyThis]

Quote from Ricter:

First chart here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_force

My point is not that today's LFPR is no problem, only to put it into perspective, lest some here are tempted to slit their wrists.

Today's LFPR is the ONLY reason the UE rate is what it is, you know, to put it into perspective.

 

[OccupyThis]

Chris Matthews said, "Today’s jobs report was a mixed bag of course. 115,000 jobs were added to payrolls in April. The unemployment rate did drop to 8.1 percent, the lowest rate since President Obama took office."

Bueller, Bueller, Bueller...?

 

[pspr]

You can see from this Shadow Stats chart that the U3 unemployment rate reported by the Department of Labor is increasingly showing a widening disparity from real unemployment rates.

<img src="http://www.shadowstats.com/imgs/sgs-emp.gif?hl=ad&t=1336136898">

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

 

[AK Forty Seven]

Quote from OccupyThis:

"Two years ago, when campaigning on the Ohio State campus for former Gov. Ted Strickland, he drew some 35,000 people. There were a lot of empty seats today in the Schottenstein, which seats 20,000."

Enthusiasm and attendance is down on the GOP side as well,McCain drew much bigger crowds then Mitt

BTW,When has Mitt ever drew a crowd of 14,000 ?

 

[Fractals 'R Us]

Quote from AK Forty Seven:

Enthusiasm and attendance is down on the GOP side as well,McCain drew much bigger crowds then Mitt

BTW,When has Mitt ever drew a crowd of 14,000 ?

Probably Democrats were attending McCain's speeches to try to get him elected...

 

[OccupyThis]

If the size of the U.S. labor force as a share of the total population was the same as it was when Barack Obama took office—65.7% then vs. 63.6% today—the unemployment rate would be 11.1%.

 

[Ricter]

If you took your graph and cut it in half, and stretched the right half to make it twice as high, the change since the late '90s would appear even more frightening.

 

[OccupyThis]

Quote from Ricter:

If you took your graph and cut it in half, and stretched the right half to make it twice as high, the change since the late '90s would appear even more frightening.

Yawn.

 

[Martinghoul]

The participation rate isn't only a function of the economy. It's also a function of the demographics. Sociologists have been forecasting a general decline for a while now. With that in mind, there is still no doubt that the realized numbers are worse than expected. You can read an couple of excellent CalculatedRisk blog posts on the subject:
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/11/labor-force-participation-rate-what.html
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2012/04/labor-force-participation-rate.html

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from AK Forty Seven:

....BTW,When has Mitt ever drew a crowd of 14,000 ?

When was the last time he tried to/expected 14,000?