[KoRn]

What’s so crazy, and tells you how worthless the headline unemployment number is.....

If everyone in the US lost their jobs and didn’t look for work, the unemployment rate would be ZERO using their methodologies for calculating the number. If that happened, the media and everyone would cheer! “The unemployment rate dropped to 0.0!!!!” “Life is better than we’ve ever had it!”

I believe the ‘Labor Participation Rate’ is the number to watch. It’s the number of working aged people that are actually working. For some reason, the media and public seems to totally ignore that one.

[Jackson Brown]

I believe the ‘Labor Participation Rate’ is the number to watch. It’s the number of working aged people that are actually working. For some reason, the media and public seems to totally ignore that one.

Something to consider that is not talked about.

The workforce "participation" is now the same as 1981 -- when the US population was 120,000,000 people fewer.

[El Gato]

If everyone in the US lost their jobs and didn’t look for work, the unemployment rate would be ZERO using their methodologies for calculating the number. If that happened, the media and everyone would cheer! “The unemployment rate dropped to 0.0!!!!” “Life is better than we’ve ever had it!”

Actually it would undefined, 0/0. However if one stupid guy was still looking for work, then the rate would be 0.

But remember the government workforce is counted in the workforce and as employed. So it could get to 0 if everyone who had a job worked for the government, and everyone else was not looking.