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What Is The Current Percentage Of Working-Age Americans, Eligible To Participate In The Civilian Labor Force, But Not Currently Working?

Mr. T

By Mr. T
in POLITICAL DISCUSSION

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Mr. T Newbie

Mr. T

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What is the current percentage of working-age Americans, eligible to participate in the civilian labor force, but not currently working? Answer: 36.3 percent.

 

How would you define “unemployment?” Statistics on unemployment are bandied around in the media all the time. Changes in these statistics are hailed as good or bad news for the President, with varying degrees of emphasis from the news networks, depending on which party the President belongs to. But what do these statistics truly measure?

 

Would you define “unemployment” as measuring “people who want a job, but can’t get one?” This is, broadly speaking, the definition embraced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The trick to making those numbers dance lies in measuring “people who want a job.” The widely reported U-3 unemployment metric, currently standing at 8.3 percent, is very aggressive in shaving off people who have not made recent efforts to find work. It is further distorted by massive “seasonal adjustments,” which made over a million people vanish into thin air last month.

 

 

This is why the official unemployment rate gets lower when the American workforce contracts. Workforce contraction is a very bad thing. People who simply cannot find work, and languish on unemployment insurance for years, are the last thing a prosperous country needs… but those people don’t count in the official unemployment rate. For example, if everyone under the age of 25 abruptly stopped looking for work, it would be an economic disaster, but the official unemployment rate would go down, because the pool of people looking for work would get smaller.

 

(That’s not quite as far-fetched an example as it might sound, incidentally. Even the heavily-massaged U-3 unemployment rate currently sits at 23.2 percent for ages 16-19, and 13.3 percent for ages 20-24… and it’s about two percent higher for young men. Policies that increase the cost of labor, such as minimum-wage increases and mandated benefits, have a particularly punishing effect on young entry-level workers, since their labor has less intrinsic value than experienced older employees.)

 

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calfoxwc Grand Master

calfoxwc

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Self-employed folks, who are out of a job (consultants... @@, failed small businesses...etc... are not included in the way unemployment is calc'ed.

I still get calls from headhunters, but it's mostly all on the administrative side, not the development side. I had training in the admin stuff, but that

was really boring....and the dev side is non-existent now. Everybody I used to know has said they just retired officially, or unofficially, or went to work

part time, unofficially for "their brother-in-law" etc.

 

The true numbers have to be a disaster at this point. It's sad that the libs wailed frantically about the unemployment rate under Bush...

 

but they couldn't care less now. That's been evidence of their corruption of thought - their personal emotions run the show, and they -can't-

see the forest for the the trees. Individual trees that they like are all that matter, to the point of not thinking about the entire forest.

 

And, if you tell them to see the forest, they go berserk and change the subject.

 

For libs so it's easier for ya: The forest is our country. The trees are certain issues that libs FEEL ... benefit the way they are in life.

 

 

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Mr. T Newbie

Mr. T

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Here you go woody.

 

•U1 : Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.

•U2 : Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.

•U3 : Official unemployment rate per ILO definition.

•U4 : U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.

•U5 : U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.

•U6 : U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons.

 

 

Good luck getting a job.

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sadbrownsfan Newbie

sadbrownsfan

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This is a very bad number to use imo, it includes people who are disabled, stay at home moms/dads, and kids who might have parents/scholarships to support them through college. As the chart below shows since 2000 it has gone from 67.3% to 63.7% which is never great but their are to many variables to add. When Bush left office it was at 65.7% so during Obama's tenure it has continued down another 2% as of Jan.

 

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual

2000 67.3 67.3 67.3 67.3 67.1 67.1 66.9 66.9 66.9 66.8 66.9 67.0

2001 67.2 67.1 67.2 66.9 66.7 66.7 66.8 66.5 66.8 66.7 66.7 66.7

2002 66.5 66.8 66.6 66.7 66.7 66.6 66.5 66.6 66.7 66.6 66.4 66.3

2003 66.4 66.4 66.3 66.4 66.4 66.5 66.2 66.1 66.1 66.1 66.1 65.9

2004 66.1 66.0 66.0 65.9 66.0 66.1 66.1 66.0 65.8 65.9 66.0 65.9

2005 65.8 65.9 65.9 66.1 66.1 66.1 66.1 66.2 66.1 66.1 66.0 66.0

2006 66.0 66.1 66.2 66.1 66.1 66.2 66.1 66.2 66.1 66.2 66.3 66.4

2007 66.4 66.3 66.2 65.9 66.0 66.0 66.0 65.8 66.0 65.8 66.0 66.0

2008 66.2 66.0 66.1 65.9 66.1 66.1 66.1 66.1 65.9 66.0 65.8 65.8

2009 65.7 65.8 65.6 65.6 65.7 65.7 65.5 65.4 65.1 65.0 65.0 64.6

2010 64.8 64.9 64.9 65.1 64.9 64.6 64.6 64.7 64.6 64.4 64.5 64.3

2011 64.2 64.2 64.2 64.2 64.2 64.1 64.0 64.1 64.1 64.1 64.0 64.0

2012 63.7

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