So, how bad is today’s labor report? White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman Austan Goolsbee released a statement this morning that tries to put the best face on the numbers:
Recommended Stories
The unemployment rate declined, yes — but here’s why: The number of adults (over 16) not in the workforce has increased to its highest point since January 1984. In other words, there is a lower percentage of Americans either working or seeking work than at any point since then:
The gradual decline in labor force participation can probably be chalked up to this second graph: a huge spike in the number of job-seekers who say they have stopped looking because they don’t think there’s a job for them to find. That number had peaked last year, but it’s headed upward again:
One result of all this is that a smaller share of Americans is currently working than at any time since July 1983. We haven’t yet reached the lows of the era before women entered the workforce in large numbers, but we’re getting close.
