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Labor Participation Rate Drops To Lowest Since 1978; People Not In Labor Force Rise To Record
Zero Hedge ^ | September 5, 2014

Posted on 09/05/2014 7:04:21 AM PDT by Zakeet

Complete headline: Labor Participation Rate Drops To Lowest Since 1978; People Not In Labor Force Rise To Record 92.3 Million

It is almost as if the Fed warned us this would happen. In a note released yesterday, a Fed working paper titled "Labor Force Participation: Recent Developments and Future Prospects", looked at the US labor force and concluded that "while we see some of the current low level of the participation rate as indicative of labor market slack, we do not expect the participation rate to show a substantial increase from current levels as labor market conditions continue to improve." But don't blame it on the greatest recession/depression since 1929: "our overall assessment is that much - but not all - of the decline in the labor force participation rate since 2007 is structural in nature."

Well that's very odd, because it was only two months ago that the Census wrote the following: "Many older workers managed to stay employed during the recession; in fact, the population in age groups 65 and over were the only ones not to see a decline in the employment share from 2005 to 2010 (Figure 3-25)... Remaining employed and delaying retirement was one way of lessening the impact of the stock market decline and subsequent loss in retirement savings."

So yeah... sounds like most of the decline in the participation rate is not structural in nature and is merely a response to what everyone but the 1% sees as the biggest - and ongoing - economic devastation perhaps in history, papered over conveniently for the 1% with trillions in liquidity injections.

In any event, no matter how you spin it, today's data was bad: because not only did the headline data disappoint, the labor force participation rate dropped once again to 62.8% from 62.9%, matching the lowest since 1978, as a result of the people not in labor force rising once again, and hitting a new all time high record of 92,269,000, up 268,000 from the prior month. In fact, in August the number of people not in the labor force increased by nearly double the number of people who found jobs, which as we reported previously, was only 142K.

Putting it another way, since the start of the depression in December 2007, the number of people not in the labor force has increased by 13.0 million. The number of jobs added: 768,000.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: economy; employment; jobs

1 posted on 09/05/2014 7:04:21 AM PDT by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet

Makes you wonder who is paying the bills. The Chinese? The dwindling middle class?


2 posted on 09/05/2014 7:06:27 AM PDT by dhs12345
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To: Zakeet

bttt


3 posted on 09/05/2014 7:09:38 AM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: Zakeet

And meanwhile, our corporate and government masters continue to flood the US with cheap labor to undermine the US worker. It has to be intentional destruction of a once self-reliant and independent population.


4 posted on 09/05/2014 7:12:35 AM PDT by grania
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To: Zakeet

hm... 1978... what happened in 1978...

OH YEAH!

Another Democrat was in charge CARTER!

So basically, the title could have been: Labor Participation Rate Drops to Lowest Since The Last Time A Liberal Was President!.


5 posted on 09/05/2014 7:22:39 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama lied .. the economy died.)
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To: Zakeet

Hmmm... 1978... what was happening in 1978...?

Oh, yeah, the FIRST Jimmie Carter was president!

Actually, I don’t think Jimmie was actually working for the demise of America like this guy.


6 posted on 09/05/2014 7:24:09 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

HA! 1.5 minutes!


7 posted on 09/05/2014 7:24:40 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: dhs12345
Makes you wonder who is paying the bills. The Chinese? The dwindling middle class?

The foundation of Progressivism is the Federal Reserve and a fiat currency. $18 Trillion in government debt pays for this, and the political supporters of the left. If we didn't have a Federal Reserve that supports government debt creation through monetization and printing, NONE of this would happen.

8 posted on 09/05/2014 7:56:49 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: MrB

Indeed his every action in the last five years has been to hurt not help the country.


9 posted on 09/05/2014 9:00:08 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: Zakeet; All

I rarely hear about problems with constitutionally indefensible federal Social Security Ponzi scheme benefits from the corrupt media anymore. So the fact that fewer people are now contributing to SS means real trouble for retirees in a generation or two imo.


10 posted on 09/05/2014 9:06:28 AM PDT by Amendment10
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To: PGR88

Exactly. Only, someday, someone will have to pay the debt (directly or indirectly).


11 posted on 09/05/2014 11:47:01 AM PDT by dhs12345
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