Posted on 04/06/2014 4:50:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A big puzzle looms over the U.S. economy: Friday's jobs report tells us that the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.7% from a peak of 10% at the height of the Great Recession. But at the same time, only 63.2% of Americans 16 or older are participating in the labor force, which, while up a bit in March, is down substantially since 2000. As recently as the late 1990s, the U.S. was a nation in which employment, job creation and labor force participation went hand in hand. That is no longer the case.
What's going on? Think of the labor market as a spring bash you've been throwing with great success for many years. You've sent out the invitations again, but this time the response is much less enthusiastic than at the same point in previous years.
One possibility is that you just need to beat the bushes more, using reminders of past fun as "stimulus" to get people's attention. Another possibility is that interest has shifted away from your big party to other activities.
Economists are sorting out which of these scenarios best explains the slack numbers on labor-force participationand offers the best hope of reversing them. Is the problem cyclical, so that, if we push for faster growth, workers will come back, as they have in the past with upturns in the business cycle? Or do deeper structural problems in the economy have to be fixed before we can expect any real progress? To the extent that problems are related to retirement or work disincentives that are either hard to change or created by policy, familiar monetary or fiscal policies may have little effecta point getting too little attention in Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I’m warming up some tea as we speak!
One possibility is that you just need to beat the bushes more, using reminders of past fun as "stimulus" to get people's attention. Another possibility is that interest has shifted away from your big party to other activities.
Who wrote this?
U-6 Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor
force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons,
as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally
attached to the labor forceU-6 the real unemployment = 12.7%
Underground Economy...........out of sight, out of mind, out of the oppressive Federal taxes......
They’re sitting in their houses paid for by your tax dollars and munching on cheetoes bought with your tax dollars.
I retired and took my SS rather than make a dime for this president to spend.
Obamacare has created lots of new bureaucrats.
Primarily via food stamps.
As a triage interviewer at a local food/clothing bank, I talk w/ people all the time whose only income is their food stamps.
Many of them work day jobs under the table, clean houses for cash, mow yards, etc. Whatever they can do to get cash.
It's really sad.
The workers are still here, the question should be “where have all the JOBS gone”?
The bad part of this is, the “workers” want more than they are worth and the companies cannot afford to pay them what the workers THINK they are worth. Why have workers at all if you pay out everything you make in wages and benefits?
many have developed incomes from work not shown on the grid
RE: many have developed incomes from work not shown on the grid
Will they declare these income? If not, How does the IRS detect this?
My mother tells me when they first had welfare payments, they were sent to city and county level administrators for disbursement. The reasoning was that they would know best who was really in need and who were the perpetually lazy, the drunks. You had to stand before this board of your neighbors that were elected officials and explain why you needed assistance.
During those times, most citizens even if they were in need would never shame themselves begging for hand outs in public.
I would think that some if not all of the income is not declared.
I’m thinking of two young guys that did yard maintenance. They had trucks and trailers and mowers and weed eaters.
They workd for cash.
Another I observed did tree work. Paid in cash.....
A long list can be developed.
It included our guy at the interstate exits. Can he collect $10 per hour? Possibly
Only to these liberals do they destroy the economy then wonder why no one is working, blaming people for not “participating”.
Businesses are still finding out how badly Obamacare is affecting them. Many do not know how they will survive next year.
Those employees, who are lucky, get notices and find new work while still on the job. They have the advantage. Those getting no notice find themselves dumped out on the street and increasingly out of luck.
Obama is still increasing business regulations by the day, so employers are only hiring as a last resort.
Many of the young out of college, including my nephew, are having extremely hard times finding any job at all. My other nephew had to work for free for a year before taking a minimum wage job after college.
Business in America and our Youth are Screwed under Obama.
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