In a previous post I mentioned that the unemployment rate would be one of the most politicized numbers of the year because it’s a presidential election year. With a lethargic recovery underway, that has certainly been the case. While the official unemployment number continues to drift down towards 8 percent, the real story is the shrinking workforce. For American men, the labor force participation rate is the lowest since this number started being tracked in 1948. You can find a couple of interesting charts and analysis here.
Time will tell what all of this means but having experienced people still young and healthy enough to work drop out of the workforce is not a good thing.