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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn March, the Unemployment Rate Masked Some Good News For Once
In March, the Unemployment Rate Masked Some Good News For Once
Heidi Shierholz
The unemployment rate held steady in March, but in a departure from the usual story in this recovery, that masked some good news. The share of the working-age population with a job ticked up by one-tenth of a percentand the share of the prime-age population with a job, which is my favorite measure of labor market trends in recent yearsticked up by two-tenths of a percent. If more people were finding work, why didnt the unemployment rate go down? Because more people came into the labor force. The labor force participation rate rose by two-tenths of a percent. The number of missing workersworkers who have left, or never entered, the labor force due to weak job opportunitiesdropped from 5.7 million to 5.3 million. That is still a lot of missing workers (the unemployment rate would be 9.8% if they were counted as unemployed), and there is a great deal of month-to-month variability in the number of missing workers (meaning we cant make too much of ones months drop), but this is a step in the right direction.
Interestingly, most of the decline in missing workers in March was due to the increase in labor force participation of men under age 25. Men under age 25 had seen a steep decline in labor force participation over the prior five months, and Marchs increase almost entirely reverses that decline. There are still 580,000 missing men under age 25, but again, Marchs drop was a step in the right direction.
http://www.epi.org/blog/march-unemployment-rate-masked-good-news/
Heidi Shierholz
The unemployment rate held steady in March, but in a departure from the usual story in this recovery, that masked some good news. The share of the working-age population with a job ticked up by one-tenth of a percentand the share of the prime-age population with a job, which is my favorite measure of labor market trends in recent yearsticked up by two-tenths of a percent. If more people were finding work, why didnt the unemployment rate go down? Because more people came into the labor force. The labor force participation rate rose by two-tenths of a percent. The number of missing workersworkers who have left, or never entered, the labor force due to weak job opportunitiesdropped from 5.7 million to 5.3 million. That is still a lot of missing workers (the unemployment rate would be 9.8% if they were counted as unemployed), and there is a great deal of month-to-month variability in the number of missing workers (meaning we cant make too much of ones months drop), but this is a step in the right direction.
Interestingly, most of the decline in missing workers in March was due to the increase in labor force participation of men under age 25. Men under age 25 had seen a steep decline in labor force participation over the prior five months, and Marchs increase almost entirely reverses that decline. There are still 580,000 missing men under age 25, but again, Marchs drop was a step in the right direction.
http://www.epi.org/blog/march-unemployment-rate-masked-good-news/
March Employment Report: 192,000 Jobs, 6.7% Unemployment Rate
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024779060
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In March, the Unemployment Rate Masked Some Good News For Once (Original Post)
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Apr 2014
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