The unemployment rate is a ratio. The denominator is the number of persons in the labor pool. The denominator is slipping faster than the numerator which is the number of new unemployed.
The labor pool is shrinking because people have given up or are underemployed and are working multiple jobs. Persons who take a second or third job are not reducing the number of unemployed.
When the underemployed and frustrated are factored in, the unemployment rate is well over 16%.
Personally I know people that are still waiting to bounce back from 2009. In the next 5 to 6 years I don’t think they will ever have the opportunity.
I have heard from several young people that they have taken second and third jobs. Although they are naturally upbeat at their young age they are increasingly frustrated. They’re also bright enough to know that dramatic increases in the minimum wage will result in losing a job or two.
Under Obama the USA is in decline largely because of his policies.
“Non-farm payrolls rose by 74,000 jobs month-over-month (m/m) in December, the smallest gain since January 2011, and below the 197,000 increase forecast by economists surveyed by Bloomberg. November’s initial rise of 203,000 was adjusted higher to a gain of 241,000 jobs, while October’s 200,000 increase was unrevised. Excluding government hiring and firing, private sector payrolls increased by 87,000 in December, versus the forecast of a gain of 200,000, after expanding by an upwardly revised 226,000 in November, from the 196,000 initially reported. Average hourly earnings were up 0.1% m/m, below expectations of a 0.2% gain, and average weekly hours dipped to 34.4, missing the forecast for the rate to remain at November’s 34.5 level.
“Despite a decline in the unemployment rate to 6.7% from the 7.0% in November, below the expectation for it to remain at 7.0%, there were some negative offsetting factors. The fall in the unemployment rate was due to 347,000 people dropping out of the workforce and the participation rate, the share of the working age population in the workforce, fell 0.2% to 62.8% -the lowest in 36 years. ...”