Last month, another 130,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force, The labor participation rate is 63.9 percent, which is roughly the same rate as the 1970s. Unemployment dipped to 7.7 percent as a result of the participation rate, but remains chronically high. Companies such as JC Penney, Google, and Wal-Wart, have all announced future layoffs. Jerry Murray, Wal-Mart’s VP of finance and logistics, made news after his leaked emails referred to the company’s monthly sales figures as a “total disaster.” In March, consumer confidence fell to the lowest level we have seen since December 2011. As the market corrects from the record highs last week, the American small business is still feeling the pain and wondering: Has Atlas Shrugged?
Tag Archive: unemployment
Quick Notes About the Unemployment Rate
In the last year, the civilian population rose by 3,584,000. Yet the labor force only rose by 1,569,000. Those not in the labor force rose by 2,014,000.
In February, the Civilian Labor Force rose by 476,000.
In February, those “Not in Labor Force” decreased by 310,000. If you are not in the labor force, you are not counted as unemployed.
Participation Rate rose .2 to 63.9%
Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be well over 11%.
Over the past several years people have dropped out of the labor force at an astounding, almost unbelievable rate, holding the unemployment rate artificially low. Some of this was due to major revisions last month on account of the 2010 census finally factored in. However, most of it is simply economic weakness.
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- Image via Wikipedia
Will large numbers of today’s children grow up to become servants and nannies in the homes of the digital bourgeoisie? There is good reason to believe that the answer is yes.
The most pressing issue of the day remains sky-high unemployment. There is, however, almost no consensus about how to think about the the depth of the problems facing the U.S. labor market. Many believe that the staggering unemployment rate is purely cyclical. Karl Smith, an economist at the UNC School of Government, has written a post on “the myth of structural unemployment,” arguing that “the structure of the American economy hasn’t changed that much in the last 24 months.”
via Will Your Children Grow Up To Be Servants And Nannies? – Forbes.com.
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Unemployment among those ages 15-24 is now averaging 20 percent across Europe, with an extraordinary peak of 43 percent in Spain. But it is above 20 percent even in prosperous Luxemburg, the country with the highest income per capita in the European Union.
Youth unemployment in the United States is more than 19 percent and is expected to top 20 percent this year. But it is much higher among ethnic minorities
via Walker’s World: The lost generation – UPI.com – Mozilla Firefox.