[SampleMan]

So you are holding the position that the percentage of people in the workforce is at an all time low and dropping, BUT the percentage of people working is increasing. Sorry I'm not buying it.

The only way that employment stats have improved has been by decreasing the number of people in the workforce pool.

[Wyatt's Torch]

The only way that employment stats have improved has been by decreasing the number of people in the workforce pool.

James Pethokoukis from AEI always tweets on NFP day what the unemployment rate would be if the participation rate was the same as when Obama came into office. I think he said last week that it would be 10.3%. Of course the participation rate has been declining for 15+ years so it's not a new phenomenon.

However, it's not the "only reason" as the number of working people is up since the low (129.3 million in February 2010) by some 6.2 million (135.5 million in April 2013). We are still 2.6 million away from the peak of 138.1 million in January 2008.