US – Some 432,000 people left the workforce

The size of the labor force tanked last month, helping to make for a very mixed June jobs report.

Though payrolls climbed at a healthy clip, some 432,000 people left the workforce, Labor Department data showed. That sent the participation rate — which tracks the share of working-age people who are either employed or looking for work — to 62.6 percent, the lowest level since October 1977. While the rate has been trending down ever since baby boomers started retiring in droves, the decrease last month was the sharpest in more than a year.

The decline was made all the more surprising by the fact that June tends to be a month where the U.S. sees loads of people moving into the labor force — think teenagers snagging lifeguard gigs, recent college graduates scouring the internet for job postings and teachers taking up summer work.  That “just did not happen,” said Karen Kosanovich, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington.

In the last decade, an average 1.35 million workers have entered the labor force every June on a not seasonally adjusted basis. This year, the gain was 564,000. That translates into a decline for the seasonally adjusted data, since the monthly increase was much less than it usually is.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  This Is Why Participation in the U.S. Workforce Has Plunged to Its Lowest Since 1977 – Bloomberg Business.

Related Posts

Job Report in US – Payroll employment rises by 223,000 in June; unemployment rate declines to 5.3%

Editor’s note: While the establishment survey says that payroll employment rose by 223,000 in June, the household survey indicates that the number on people employed dropped by 56 000. This kind of result is not unusual, but it tends to come near turning points. Next months and other indicators will tell us. Total nonfarm payroll employment … Continue reading →

Reactions to June Jobs Report – ‘Certainly Disappointing’ economists say plus the White House

“This isn’t a terrible report by any means but it’s certainly disappointing. The lack of wage growth continues for another month while the labor market’s improvement certainly stalled. In terms of the Federal Reserve, one report never really changes the general narrative and this one certainly does not. We still think the Fed is on … Continue reading →