US – The 2015 Economic Report of the President on the labor market

Chapter 3  of  [The 2015 Economic Report of the President] addresses the opportunities and challenges facing the U.S. labor market. The sharp drop in unemployment in 2014 came amid a stabilization in the labor force participation rate and the strongest annual job growth since the 1990s as businesses added more than 3 million jobs. But economic performance must be gauged by more than just the unemployment rate — a successful job market also encourages labor force participation, supports quality jobs, and facilitates effective job matching of workers and positions. This chapter reviews the United States’ recent labor market progress and discusses five long-standing labor market challenges that motivate many of President Obama’s policy initiatives. The decline in the labor force participation rate earlier in this recovery is one such important challenge. Just over half the participation decline has been driven by an aging population as the “baby boomer” generation has begun to retire (Figure 3-6). Moreover, labor force participation has stabilized over the past year, indicating that the 2014 unemployment decline reflected strong job growth rather than a shrinking labor force.

via The 2015 Economic Report of the President | The White House.