When the LFPR drops by 0.1% it means that there will be 180,000 less workers filling the tax bucket Continue reading
The ABS has revised September’s jobless figure from 5.6 per cent to 5.7 per cent, meaning the jobless rate has held effectively held steady for the past two months Continue reading
The most recent U.S. recession and recovery have been accompanied by a sharp decline in the labor force participation rate. The largest declines have occurred in states with the largest job losses. This suggests that some of the recent drop in the national labor force participation rate could be cyclical. Past recoveries show evidence of … Continue reading
the Federal Reserve Act calls for ‘maximum employment’, not ‘minimum unemployment’. This distinction did not matter much in the past, but it is becoming increasingly important. The ‘participation gap’ remains as big a drag on growth as ‘unemployment’ and we, like Goldman, would expect the Fed to ‘change’ its target for their outcome-based guidance (to … Continue reading
We noted earlier that the recent drop in labor force participation — the percentage of people 16 or older who are working or looking for work — reflects not only the economic downturn and lack of job opportunities, but also the fact that more baby boomers are hitting retirement age. To measure the effect of … Continue reading
The U.S. population is growing. In normal times, the labor force — working or not — would be growing too. But these are not normal times, and the labor force is actually smaller than it was four years ago, meaning millions of people who should be there aren’t. Discouraged U.S. Workers, 2008-2012 The labor market … Continue reading
Jessie Romero of the Richmond Fed analyzes why so many people are leaving the labor force, and what are they doing after they exit: Where Have All the Workers Gone?, by Jessie Romero, Richmond Fed: Since September of last year, the unemployment rate in the United States has declined nearly a full percentage point, from … Continue reading
When the Treasury published its first Intergenerational Report (IGR) in May 2002, it alerted governments to the looming problem of an ageing population. A smaller proportion of the population would be working to support a growing proportion in retirement and relying on government services, notably health care, and income support. It was a fiscal disaster … Continue reading
The layoff notice was not a complete surprise. At the shipping centre in Denver where Jeanine Maez filled mail orders, the trend had been toward paperless transactions. But how Maez reacted to being unemployed in 2004 was a revelation, even to herself: She decided not to look for a new job in favour of staying … Continue reading