How does that work. If there are fewer people now in the workforce... doesn't that mean that the unemployed would now be proportionally higher?
Or, are you saying that a bunch of unemployed baby boomers retired....... retired from being unemployed?
“How does that work. If there are fewer people now in the workforce... doesn’t that mean that the unemployed would now be proportionally higher?”
It’s my understanding that the unemployment numbers are those people on unemployment. Once you run out of unemployment you are no longer counted. If you aren’t entitled to unemployment you are never counted. We should be very concerned about the numbers of people in the workforce, and the number of long term unemployed. Those are the people who end up on welfare and public assistance.
>>>How does that work. If there are fewer people now in the workforce... doesn’t that mean that the unemployed would now be proportionally higher?
The workforce is defined as those employed and those actively looking for unemployment. Unemployment rate = those actively looking / workforce. Essentially people have become discouraged and have stopped activley looking for work.
Think of the case of a parent in a two-income family that may see few opportunities at a suffiecient wage, so chooses to stay home with the kids instead. That would be someone leaving the workforce.