Missing: Up To 4 Million Workers

[Penguin]

Re: Missing: Up To 4 Million Workers

Very interesting article Chris. And it takes up some of the issues I have been confused about in pretty fair detail. Unfortunately these issues are not as cut and dried as I'd like. But it is better to be uncertain within a margin of error than to be than to be positive of your opinions but completely wrong on your facts.

This explains things well and I appreciate it.

Will

[dcarrigg]

Re: Missing: Up To 4 Million Workers

FRED gets their data from the BLS. For the BLS, the labor participation rate goes by the civilian noninstitutional population. So retirees count against it, but not people under 16, imprisoned, or active duty military. 4% of this population is quite a few people, somewhere around 8 million in round numbers. So that was the drop during the recession. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if a couple million got buy-outs to retire as the recession ramped up. I know the Federal government offered some, and lots of states, counties, municipalities, and school districts offered them as well to trim budgets. Lots of private firms probably did it too. In the end, half could have been retirements, and I wouldn't be surprised. The article Chomsky posted had the figure at 3.2M. Seems about right. The other 4 million? Probably mostly people going back to school and discouraged workers at the bottom of the ladder. That shouldn't be too surprising either. Times are hard. Unemployment's high. Real wages are low.

What's weird is just how sideways the graph goes after the bottom. It was always growing or shrinking, diving in a recession, popping back afterwards, but never sitting still for long. Years of flatlining with no business cycle? That's just odd.

[Slimprofits]

Re: Missing: Up To 4 Million Workers

But it is better to be uncertain within a margin of error than to be than to be positive of your opinions but completely wrong on your facts.

That is one smart Penguin.

[Rajiv]

Re: Missing: Up To 4 Million Workers

I am one of those who filed for early SS after UI ran out. I would rather have been working in a paying job. Just spent the time "working" on developing the dental gel and other products. Still, SS provides the cash flow necessary to survive while we try to build a business in times of the "New Depression" taking no wages or salaries. Our product can be seen at Livionex Dental