WatchThe Bureau of Labor Statistics released jobs numbers for January Friday showing that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 and the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent.
Lost in these headline numbers was another rise in the number of people NOT in the labor force.
This number now stands at a staggering 89 million, up from 80.5 million when President Obama took office.
This means that there are currently 8.5 million more Americans NOT in the labor force than just four years ago.
Forget all the other numbers.
This continued explosion of people not in the labor force should be tremendously concerning as it represents an obstacle for the government to ever balance the budget without drastically raising taxes on those still working.
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I think you should probably get used to seeing the out of the labor force numbers rising. As the boomers turn 65 and retire, the labor force will naturally shrink.
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Yes- make sure and always promote the right wing media point of view at all cost even though the majority of Americans think its wrong.
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33 male
Fort Mill, SC
Hmm...Labor force participation rate 1970 to present.
Baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964.
Baby boomers age in 1970: 6-24.
Baby boomers age in 2013: 49-67.
These things MIGHT be correlated....
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This slide started when the powers that be started rigging the financial industry.
(I would love to blame all Republicans and both Bushs, but must admit that the Glass-Steagall act that protected the consumer was repealed under Clinton's watch.)
Financial firms were left unregulated and basically collapsed the economy by causing housing prices to soar unregulated with risky loans and unknown derivatives.
When it collapsed the biggest, wealthiest, and most powerful made out the most, with executive payouts and golden parachutes.
Now companies can screw employees, lower wages and benefits, fire and temporarily rehire, because jobs are so scarce. They can also outsource and automate which eliminates US jobs.
So when you say Obama caused all of this, you can point back to 1971 (like David1 said) where they decoupled gold from the dollar and started printing money, followed by Reagan and both Bushes, with a little Clinton sprinkled in.
Here is your free market. It's called a Plutocracy.
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KarlRoveIsScum says
Seriously? You think birth stats being down would cause number of people not in the labor force to go up? No correlation, in-fact, if anything it would be inverse as we are adding less individuals to the population. How does that cause the unemployed population count to go down or be less than if birth stats were up?
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The individuals that are divided by Republican and Democrat need to remove political party affiliation from their thought process. It's not about that anymore, hasn't been for over 100 years. For the most part they are the same, and by arguing points based in political party affiliation you show your extreme lack of understanding regarding the current mess we have gotten ourselves into over the last 100 years.
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tatupu70 says
That's true in the near future, but right now population is increasing faster than boomers are reaching retirement age and the participation rate is falling. Lots of people are taking ss at 62 or faking disability because there is no work and they have run out of options. Unemployment is very understated.
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david1 says
I don't think so... you forgot to add population growth to your equation...
bob2356 says
Actually, job growth has GROWN in the above 55+ age group, so the idea of baby boomers retiring doesn't cut it...
...."And another perspective: in January jobs in the 16-54 age group declined by a total of -99K, while even America's aged workers, those 55 and over, saw their first sequential jobs loss of 16,000 jobs, since July 2012. In Total, some 2.8 million jobs in the 26-54 age group have been lost since january 2009, offset by 3.95 million gains in the 55-69 age group. "
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-01/how-todays-strong-jobs-report-led-115000-job-losses
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robertoaribas's website
ForcedTQ says
i don't see democrats:
1. trying to keep people from voting.
2. trying to take control of all women's vaginas.
3. trying to steal elections by changing vote counting schemes.
4. trying to cut taxes on the rich and businesses, which are currently paying the lowest share they've ever paid.
5. Trying to gut all investment for the middle class, such as education, and health care.
6. standing in the way for any reform of gay rights.
7. up until one month ago, standing in the way of any meaningful immagration reform.
8. threatening to implode the economy over the debt ceiling, when congress appropriates the spending in the first place...
Sorry, but if you wish to claim that both parties and our system have problems, that is a fair claim to make. If you claim "democrats and republicans are the same" you are either wildly uninformed, or completely incapable of thinking.
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robertoaribas says
All democrats good. All GOP bad. A erudite and deep political analysis by the the revered Roberto.
There are no problems in CA. Your illustrious leaders have had political control here and there are just no problems here, not one bit.
Cog in the system. Belong to The Party. Read 1984, don't get it - part of the system talking Newspeak.
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
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Next thing to do - open the borders and promise birthright citizenship.
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Obama’s Numbers
Statistical measures of the president's term to date.
Posted on October 8, 2012
How naïve can one be? The unemployment rate nationally is 50%. That figure is coming straight from the IRS office when they include all the non-working people living on welfare nationwide. In the Red States, it's only 20% and in the Blue States, it's a whopping 80%.
The trumped-up unemployment rate of 8% only counts white people collecting unemployment checks.
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carrieon says
nominated.
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It has been discussed by numerous economists that retiring boomers are a contributor to the declining labor force participation rate, but, I believe 40% of the decline has been attributed to retiring boomers. 60% of the decline in the labor force participation rate is due to the crappy economy. Although the mainstream media would have the grazers believe otherwise, the unemployment rate is an inadequate metric to describe the average job seeker's plight. Yes, you can have an improving unemployment rate, and more and more jobless Americans.
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in Silicon Valley.. all you hear is shortage of qualified candidates... but they also disqualify many 40+ year olds with 20 years of experience.. which was not the case some 10 years back. There are many many many people over 40 and 50 who still want to work and have countless skills and experience that still applies across decades. Having someone over 40 or 60 on the payroll was never an issue back in the 80s and 90s.
Silicon Valley’s Dark Secret: It’s All About Age (age discrimination in the tech sector)
Tech Crunch
1 Sep 2010
An interesting paradox in the technology world is that there is both a shortage and a surplus of engineers in the United States. Talk to those working at any Silicon Valley company, and they will tell you how hard it is to find qualified talent. But listen to the heart-wrenching stories of unemployed engineers, and you will realize that there are tens of thousands who can’t get jobs. What gives?
The harsh reality is that in the tech world, companies prefer to hire young, inexperienced, engineers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2581427/posts
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Special Report: Silicon Valley's dirty secret - age bias
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/27/us-valley-ageism-idUSBRE8AQ0JK20121127
When Randy Adams, 60, was looking for a chief-executive officer job in Silicon Valley last year, he got turned down from position after position that he thought he was going to nail — only to see much younger, less-experienced men win out.
Finally, before heading into his next interview, he shaved off his gray hair and traded in his loafers for a pair of Converse sneakers. The board hired him.
"I don't think I would have been able to get this CEO job if I hadn't shaved my head," says Adams, who has founded eight venture-backed companies. He is now chairman of the company that hired him, mobile conference-call service Socialdial, and is fundraising for a new business. Adams has supplemented his makeover by trading in his button-down shirts for T-shirts, making sure he owns the latest gadgets, and getting an eyelid lift.