As for the recent census adjustments v. people being dropped well one economist is quoted as saying: There was not a big increase in discouraged workers,' economist Betsey Stevenson commented on Twitter. 'What happened was Census found a bunch of old people we had assumed died.' Read more: http://advisorperspectives.com/dshort/guest/Lance-Roberts-120206-Not-in-Labor-Force-Analysis.php#ixzz1llXfZtKh
Who determined that they were "still alive"?
The two biggest adjustments to populations have been in 2000 and 2012 (see URL link) -- both Democratic incumbent presidents with connections to 1960s Marxist campus radicals (campus spoiled brats, actually) and both election years with economic issues.
The population adjustments are estimates made year-to-year.
Furthermore with the census adjusted, the "data used to estimate the labor force participation rate is obtained along with other labor force data from the monthly Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
The CPS is a monthly survey of about 60000 households. The answers to the survey given by those households are interpreted largely by computers.
How the computer interprets is determined by tables. Those tables are populated by government GS employees. Those government GS employees answer to the White House.
There are no questions on the survey like "Are you marginally attached to . . . ?" The questions have to be interpreted to make determinations relevant to the purpose of the survey -- and I am saying to get the answers that the White House wants or at least as close as possible.
But the civilian non-institutional population grew at an average of 2,651,000 per year, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, in the eight years prior to Obama, yet has only grown by 2,013,000 2,029,000, 1,788,000, and 2,651,000 in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 respectively. So what's wrong with this picture? The January 2012 figure is normal, while the 2009 - 2011 figures are artifically low, 2011 being way off the mark. So it seems there may yet be more zombies out there than Betsey Stevenson would care to admit.
I agree that the monthly household survey is pretty much a sham. I'm still trying to find a soul who actually participated in one.