From the article: “What the data doesn’t tell us, however, is what happened to all the people no longer classified as unemployed. While some found a job, others may have retired, ended up on welfare, moved in with family members, sought disability payments or fled to a nearby state with better benefits. We just don’t know.”
That’s the closing paragraph. And it supports the notion that tracking ‘unemployment’ is only half the story. The rest of it is labor participation.
It the LSM would report BOTH, we would have a much better picture of national employment.
It’s quite possible that a significant portion of the drop in NC is due to people simply falling off the roles, which does not necessarily mean these folks went out and found work.
I acknowledged that in my comments, which is why I asked if anyone on the ground in North Carolina would somehow have access to other sources of info on the labor participation rate in NC since the long term benefits were shortened and reduced. I said from the start that there is naturally going to be some degree of speculation here without additional proof.
Does anyone have other info on this other than speculation, at least when it comes to NC and neighboring states?