Labor Force Participation Rate tells you how many people in the country are working. It is a good number to watch because it takes into account population growth.
In a normal healthy economy the rate bounces along near 70%. Since 9/11 the rate has hovered around 66 to 66.2.
The drop in the rate has been gradual, but steady under the Obama Administration. The 5 million jobs created that the President crows about averages to about 167,000 jobs a month, which is not keeping up with population growth. We need closer to 180,000 a month to tread water.
Thinking about the millions unemployed we would need about 250,000 more jobs a month to get everyone back to work in 4 years. Over 400,000 a month is a far cry from what we have seen.
Obama may be a nice guy, but his job creation efforts have failed because he has put no real effort into it. He talks a good line, but his actions, or lack of, speak louder to people who listen.
He has not met with Congressional leaders from either party since July to discuss his proposed jobs bills. Why? His campaign ads say Congress has not passed them, yet he has made no effort to talk with Congress. This is not a rubber stamp banana republic where he can make demands. The founding fathers built our system to force cooperation. He has to work for it if he wants it.
His blue ribbon jobs committe chaired by GEs CEO Jeff Imelt has not met since March 2012. Why? Could it be it brings to light GEs offshoring of over 20,000 US jobs since Imelt took over GE?
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
In the last Labor department report on employment before the election is decided, job growth has seen a moderate increase, whereas unemployment has also risen from 7.8 percent in September to 7.9 percent in October.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, a facet of the United States Department of Labor, has released a new report analysing how the job market has fared in recent months. According to the data, 171,000 new positions were created in October this year.
Unemployment rates remained unchanged throughout October, which means approximately 12.3 million Americans are currently out of work. Those who are considered “long term” unemployed — 27 weeks or more — represent 5 million of this statistic.
The labor force rose by 578,000 to 155.6 million in October, and total employment rose by 410,000 during the month. Those who work part-time decreased by 269,000 in those four weeks, offsetting the 582,000 increase in September.
An interesting part of the round of surveys suggested that there are currently 813,000 Americans who have simply given up trying to find work. Labeled “discouraged”, these U.S. citizens “are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them”, according to the Department of Labor.
Professional and business services added 36,000 jobs in October, the leisure industry contributed with 28,000, healthcare by 31,000 and retail increased by 36,000, whereas construction saw a boost of 17,000. Manufacturing employment barely changed, and the mining industry saw a loss of 9,000 positions.
Employment growth has averaged at 157,000 new roles per month so far in 2012.
“Generally, the report shows that things are better than we’d expected and certainly better than we’d thought a few months ago,” said Paul Dales, senior United States economist for Capital Economics told the New York Times. “But we’re still not making enough progress to bring that unemployment rate down significantly and rapidly.”
The research does not include the disruption caused by Hurricane Sandy, as surveys were conducted earlier within the month.
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