Job Market Monitor
Labor force
US – Labor Force Participation Rate Update
A significant decline in the participation rate had been expected, and probably half or more of the recent decline in the participation rate was due to changing demographics (and long term trends), as opposed to economic weakness. A few key long terms trends include: • A decline in participation for those in the 16 to … Continue reading
Unemployment Benefits Cuts in North Carolina – The largest drop in its labor force in its history
In June, North Carolina lawmakers made such drastic cuts in unemployment benefits that the state was dropped from the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which made sure those who were out of work past their state-level benefit cutoff, typically around 26 weeks, still got benefits. The number of people receiving benefits fell to 45,000 by … Continue reading
Baby Boomers and Participation in US – The aging effect accounts for more than 40 percent of the decline
The United States is in the process of a dramatic demographic change – the rapid aging of the popula- tion – and that change has implications for the labor force participation and unemployment figures that we see every month. Since older people have lower labor force participation than the young, as more of the population … Continue reading
Labor Force Participation in US / A Chart
The unemployment rate reached its Obama administration peak in October 2009, at 10 percent. Since then, it has fallen steadily, but unevenly, to its current low. The unemployment rate has fallen, though, partly because of people giving up looking for work. Those who are unemployed, but no longer looking for work, are not included in … Continue reading
US Declining Labor Force Participation / Aging of the population not the only factor
The aging of the population is not the sole contributing factor in the decline in labor force participation since 2007, contrary to what some have suggested. The participation rate has declined for every age bracket below 54 years old. The effects of these declines can be seen in the figure below. For each age range, we have calculated … Continue reading
New Zealand / Many more jobs but wages increase slowly
Employment increased strongly over the last three months of 2013; wages, not so much. The number of people employed rose by 24,000 or 1.1 per cent in the December quarter, Statistics New Zealand reported, enough to offset a migration-fuelled increase in the labour force and still reduce the unemployment rate to 6 per cent from … Continue reading
The Slow Recovery of the US Labor Market / A CBO Report
In assessing the slow recovery of the labor market, CBO estimates the following: Of the roughly 2 percentage-point net increase in the rate of unemployment between the end of 2007 and the end of 2013, about 1 percentage point was the result of cyclical weakness in the demand for goods and services, and about 1 … Continue reading
Labor force projections to 2022 for the US / The overall labor force participation rate is expected to decline writes the BLS
Because of the decreasing labor force participation rate of youths and the prime age group, the overall labor force participation rate is expected to decline. The participation rates of older workers are projected to increase, but remain significantly lower than those of the prime age group. A combination of a slower growth of the civilian … Continue reading
Discouraged workers in US / What if they were still in ?
In December, the unemployment rate was 6.7% and the labor force participation rate was 62.8%. Where would the two figures be if all of the discouraged workers that left the labor force since October 2007 came back, and were officially counted as unemployed? Chart 2 shows that the participation rate would be a 0.7 percentage … Continue reading
US Unemployment Rate / What if those who have left the labor force since the start of the Great Recession are counted ?
3.5% of the working-age population has left the labor force since the start of the Great Recession. Should those people be also counted as unemployed? If so, here is what the unemployment rate trend would look like Continue reading
US / Labor Force Participation Rate has declined to levels not seen in about 35 years or so, to about 63%
Said differently, the percent of people that are classified as actually being in the labor force, (either working or actively seeking work), has sunk to a level not seen since the late 1970s Continue reading
The Nordic Countries / Statistics on integration
Nordic Pocket Facts is the result of cooperation between the Nordic countries that began in 2011. It provides a picture of the similarities and differences of labour market integration in the Nordic countries. It also provides a tool for detecting, revealing and preventing barriers to integration such as discrimination Continue reading
Canada / The Jobs Data Mystery goes on (Well, we know that the LFS sample is small…)
Statistics Canada released payroll data Friday for the month of July, numbers that come nearly two months after the agency released the closely-watched labor force survey for that same month. Continue reading
Human Capital / The quality of labor in rich countries would be about twice as large as the quality in poor countries research finds
The authors measure talent using the observed achievement levels from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores. Their findings imply that the quality of labor in rich countries is about twice as large as the quality in poor countries Continue reading
US Job Generation Gap / We’re All In This Together
In all likelihood, job numbers mean that fewer aging Americans have the financial means to retire Continue reading
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