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>>and Libs will tell you the Labor Participation Rate includes 98 year olds. Where do they come up with this carp?<<

First, I’m no liberal. I just really detest this 100 million Americans aren’t working b.s. because that number (usually it’s 90+ million, by the way) includes every retiree, college student, and non-working spouse in the country, which is inane.

The Labor Participation Rate doesn’t include the elderly retired, however, and is a decent portrayal of the abysmal labor market since 2009. The reported unemployment rate is 5.3% only because so many people have either quit looking for jobs because they can’t find one or, more likely, are being paid enough welfare that they don’t want to look for jobs anymore.

A better way to describe what’s going on would be to say that 7 million people are unemployed and looking for work, while 10 million more would be working if it made sense for them to get a job, but they either can’t find one or don’t want to give up their welfare benefits. (I made up the numbers, but they probably aren’t too far off.)