[Buffalo Head]

What the 'experts' seem to miss is that our 50 year low in unemployment occurred at the peak of the Vietnam war. Those serving in the war were employed by the military. A good portion of those not directly serving were producing products for the war efforts.

One would have to go back to at least 1966 to get a realistic base line for comparison purposes.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

What the 'experts' seem to miss is that our 50 year low in unemployment occurred at the peak of the Vietnam war. Those serving in the war were employed by the military. A good portion of those not directly serving were producing products for the war efforts.

One would have to go back to at least 1966 to get a realistic base line for comparison purposes.

Excellent point. Being drafted into the military isn’t all that different from being impressed into slavery.

If you subtracted the draftees from the numerator and, to be fair, the denominator of the “percentage employed” calculation, no telling how far back you might have to go to find employment numbers as good as today’s.

[octex]

I worked as a salaried professional for a major defense contractor (Bell) in the ‘60s. Along with hundreds of others, I was let go just a week before Christmas in ‘70, when the demand for our aircraft went down as the VN war was ending (we had been averaging 100+ per month).

Jobs became scarce. Six months later, I got a job at another major defense contractor (TI) that produced electronics and I learned new skills.

I had continued my part time college pursuit, graduated and was re-hired at Bell in 1974. Was retired in Dec 2001. ....The early ‘60s and ‘70s were tough years for job hunters.