Americans Not In The Labor Force Soar To Record 95.1 Million: Jump By 446,000 In One Month

[DamianTV]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-...oar-record-951-million-surge-446000-one-month

o much for that much anticipated rebound in the participation rate.

After it had managed to post a modest increase in the early part of the year, hitting the highest level in one year in March at 63%, the disenchantment with working has returned, and the labor force participation rate had flatlined for the next few month, ultimately dropping in November to 62.7%, just shy of its 35 year low of 62.4% hit last October. This can be seen in the surge of Americans who are no longer in the labor force, who spiked by 446,000 in November, hitting an all time high of 95.1 million.

...

Full article and references on link. Where's Zippy?

 

[AZJoe]

Yes, but according to the Department of Labor BLS , all those people not working are not really unemployed people so the unemployment rate is great!

And don't forget all those people jumping from part-time or low level job to job just to survive, is in reality new job creations, so new job creation is through the roof.

Remember, reality doesn't matter. For the Department of Labor its all about how you define and calculate the "statistics". Everything is awesome!

 

[DamianTV]

Yes, but according to the Department of Labor BLS , all those people not working are not really unemployed people so the unemployment rate is great!

And don't forget all those people jumping from part-time or low level job to job just to survive, is in reality new job creations, so new job creation is through the roof.

Remember, reality doesn't matter. For the Department of Labor its all about how you define and calculate the "statistics". Everything is awesome!

I owe you a +Rep for pointing out methods of manipulation!

There is a big difference between a production management job and having to go to a Temp Agency every day for jobs that may or may not be there. If we think we can rest nearly the entire weight of our financial future on Temp Jobs alone, then Canada is eventually going to want to have the US build a wall and pay for it to stop all the Illegal Immigration from the US crossing into Canada!

 

[oyarde]

This is the time of year it should improve .

 

[euphemia]

In before Zippy's chart.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Labor Force Participation Rate:
November 2016: 62.7%
November 2015: 62.5%

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000

 

[timosman]

Labor Force Participation Rate:
November 2016: 62.7%
November 2015: 62.5%

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000

Zippy finally shows up and presents a strong evidence refuting OP claim.
What ..... Not really? November 2013 was 63%... What the heck am I paying this guy for?
Does he think I am an idiot? I want his contract terminated immediately!

 

[Jingles]

How the hell does this country even function with numbers like this...? It baffles me! I show my fellow co-workers such stories as well and they are equally as baffled.

I guess my co-workers and I are just makers, and can't comprehend being takers... I'm pretty vindictive at this point when people just get state benefits. It isn't like it used to be when if someone truly needs aid. I work at a car wash. And I see people come through the wash with a 2016 car with a welfare card in their wallet when they give me their card or cash. Everyone just games to system as they please, and those of us that are principled get punished via taxation.

I seethe we rage when I see the person in front of me pay for their goods at WaWa with their EBT card while I work my ass off for what I have and would rather live in a dumpster than take money from others via the state. But I guess in this day and age people have no dignity or care for their fellow man or care where their income comes from. "Gimme gimme" is our Nation's current creed.

 

[Seraphim]

How does it function?

Very cheap oil/gas as the result of the USD reserve status with the oil trade as it's largest backing (Saudi petro-dollar deal).

A lot of Americans don't seem to understand just how cheap their oil/gas is compared to just about everyone else in the world and how it has made wealth creation incredibly easy.

At the moment, it's powering and financing the war/welfare state in America.

How the hell does this country even function with numbers like this...? It baffles me! I show my fellow co-workers such stories as well and they are equally as baffled.

I guess my co-workers and I are just makers, and can't comprehend being takers... I'm pretty vindictive at this point when people just get state benefits. It isn't like it used to be when if someone truly needs aid. I work at a car wash. And I see people come through the wash with a 2016 car with a welfare card in their wallet when they give me their card or cash. Everyone just games to system as they please, and those of us that are principled get punished via taxation.

I seethe we rage when I see the person in front of me pay for their goods at WaWa with their EBT card while I work my ass off for what I have and would rather live in a dumpster than take money from others via the state. But I guess in this day and age people have no dignity or care for their fellow man or care where their income comes from. "Gimme gimme" is our Nation's current creed.

 

[Jingles]

Sepaphim... I see that you quoted me, but I didn't really understand why? Did I relate to a point you made, but didn't see that connection or did you like what I said, etc...?

 

[DamianTV]

Labor Force Participation Rate:
November 2016: 62.7%
November 2015: 62.5%

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000

I really wouldnt call temporary christmas work a stable career.

 

[Dr.No.]

Some of it is demographics though, isn't it?

If we look at the participation drop since the highs in December 2006 while adjusting for the ageing effect on participation, you'd get 3.7 million workers who are "willing" to work but cannot find work. So that would make the unemployment rate 8.1%.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Quick rough numbers. Labor force participation rate November, 2006: 66.3%. Labor force participation rate November 2016: 62.7%. Net change: 3.6 percentage points.

US labor force has grown since 2006 so I am picking a middle year of 2012 and labor force of 155 million. http://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet?request_action=wh&graph_name=LN_cpsbref1 That is about 5.6 million left he workforce.

So why do people leave the labor force? For one, we have been having an average of 10,000 a day retiring which is three million a month or 3.6 million a year leaving the labor force by retiring. http://www.pewresearch.org/daily-number/baby-boomers-retire/ Times ten years- 36 million retired. We do have those turning 18 and entering the labor force for the first time offsetting some of that.

http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-...in-the-labor-force-why-arent-they-working.htm

In 2014, 87.4 million people 16 years and older neither worked nor looked for work at any time during the year. (See table 1.) Of this group, 38.5 million people reported retirement as the main reason for not working. About 16.3 million people were ill or had a disability, and 16.0 million were attending school. Another 13.5 million people cited home responsibilities as the main reason for not working in 2014, and 3.1 million individuals gave “other reasons.”

The percentage of the population 16 to 19 years that was not in the labor force increased from 51.5 percent in 2004 to 64.7 percent in 2014. (See chart 3.) In both years, teenagers cited school attendance most often as the main reason for not working. The proportion of the teenage population that did not work at all during the year because of school attendance rose from 46.1 percent in 2004 to 59.5 percent in 2014. Notably, while the proportion of teenagers who reported school attendance as a reason for not working rose by about 13 percentage points, the percentage of teenagers enrolled in school edged up by 1 percentage point (from 73.6 percent to 74.6 percent).

From 2004 to 2014, the percentage of the population 20 to 24 years that was not in the labor force increased from 21.4 percent to 27.3 percent. (See chart 4.) Like teenagers, most young adults cited school attendance as the main reason for not working. The share of the population 20 to 24 years that did not work because of school attendance increased from 11.3 percent in 2004 to 17.5 percent in 2014. As was the case with teenagers, the proportion of young adults enrolled in school also rose from 32.1 percent in 2004 to 34.8 percent in 2014. In both years, young adults were more likely than teenagers to report home responsibilities or illness or disability as the main reason for not working.

 

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea38.htm Figures for November 2016

Persons Not In the Labor Force: 95 million

Do Not Want A Job Now: 89.6 million

Want A Job: 5.3 million

Want one But Did Not Look For One in the Last Year: three million (do you really want one if you haven't bothered to look in a year?)

Available for Work Right Now: 1.9 million (two percent of those not currently in the labor force)

Discouraged over Job Prospects: 590,000 (0.62% of those not in the labor force)

 

[timosman]

Discouraged over Job Prospects: 590,000

Are you one of those?

 

[Brian4Liberty]

How the hell does this country even function with numbers like this...? It baffles me! I show my fellow co-workers such stories as well and they are equally as baffled.

I guess my co-workers and I are just makers, and can't comprehend being takers... I'm pretty vindictive at this point when people just get state benefits. It isn't like it used to be when if someone truly needs aid. I work at a car wash. And I see people come through the wash with a 2016 car with a welfare card in their wallet when they give me their card or cash. Everyone just games to system as they please, and those of us that are principled get punished via taxation.

I seethe we rage when I see the person in front of me pay for their goods at WaWa with their EBT card while I work my ass off for what I have and would rather live in a dumpster than take money from others via the state. But I guess in this day and age people have no dignity or care for their fellow man or care where their income comes from. "Gimme gimme" is our Nation's current creed.

I used to know someone who went from "libertarian" to left wing welfare recipient. The stories about welfare and public housing people having very nice vehicles were rampant. Same with the stories of EBT purchases of steak, lobster, sushi and the most expensive items at a grocery store. And sometimes they do laugh at people who work.

 

[Madison320]

The govt can hide a lot of this stuff with massaged, subjective statistics. One statistic it can't hide is in the debt. We require over a trillion in borrowing to keep our economy going. Not to mention 0% interest plus 1/2 trillion a year trade deficits. Imagine a business bragging about how great they were doing, how much they were selling, etc. And they have lots of charts that they generated to back it up. And then you find out they're bleeding red ink more than any business in history. Which narrative would you believe?

 

[timosman]

The govt can hide a lot of this stuff with massaged, subjective statistics. One statistic it can't hide is in the debt. We require over a trillion in borrowing to keep our economy going. Not to mention 0% interest plus 1/2 trillion a year trade deficits. Imagine a business bragging about how great they were doing, how much they were selling, etc. And they have lots of charts that they generated to back it up. And then you find out they're bleeding red ink more than any business in history. Which narrative would you believe?

Depends where your paycheck is coming from.

 

[DamianTV]

I used to know someone who went from "libertarian" to left wing welfare recipient. The stories about welfare and public housing people having very nice vehicles were rampant. Same with the stories of EBT purchases of steak, lobster, sushi and the most expensive items at a grocery store. And sometimes they do laugh at people who work.

That is the very reason why Socialism fails entirely!

Many people have an imagined concept where Socialism fails because it focuses purely on negative reinforcement of ones behaviors as it appears "oppressive". However, the opposite is also quite true. Socialism offers far too much positive reinforcement for people to not work and instead just live at the expense of others. I believe the positive reinforcement which causes Socialism to fail is the real reason Socialism is so dangerous. It destroys all incentive for honest men and women to put forth any effort when they see the fruits of their labors taken from them and given to those who do not produce. Being denied opportunity to open a new honest business is one thing as those people will continue to try other ways to grow as they see fit, but when they are allowed to produce, then have all that they have produced taken from them by force and given to leeches and parasites, both at the top and the bottom, the honest man will be far more inclined to just "give up" and do just like everyone else is doing, live better by having government take by force from those that do produce.

"Government is the great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else."

 

[Dr.No.]

I used to know someone who went from "libertarian" to left wing welfare recipient. The stories about welfare and public housing people having very nice vehicles were rampant. Same with the stories of EBT purchases of steak, lobster, sushi and the most expensive items at a grocery store. And sometimes they do laugh at people who work.

Firstly, I would argue that the mass proportion of welfare programs are run at the state level. If there are problems going on, blame your state government. There are plenty of nations with incredibly strong safety nets that don't seem to be plagued by this kind of abuse.

Moreover, the stats really don't bear out in the stories. The one large welfare program that exists on a continual basis is housing. Medicaid is for healthcare, unemployment/welfare is on a time-limited basis, food stamps are at a very small level....sure there are things like EITC, but I don't see how that would connect with EBT.

The govt can hide a lot of this stuff with massaged, subjective statistics. One statistic it can't hide is in the debt. We require over a trillion in borrowing to keep our economy going. Not to mention 0% interest plus 1/2 trillion a year trade deficits. Imagine a business bragging about how great they were doing, how much they were selling, etc. And they have lots of charts that they generated to back it up. And then you find out they're bleeding red ink more than any business in history. Which narrative would you believe?

No, it really can't. The government is audited half a hundred times by other independent organizations, who look at the numbers and verify as need be.

Moreover, the government is not a business or a household. It controls the currency. It can finance itself.

Government debt represents private savings. It means the government is adding private savings to the economy; that is a good thing.