[del griffith]

I agree. The labor participation rate is only .5% higher than when he took office. If the labor market is that tight with less than half a percent additional labor at work, then it must have been pretty tight when he took office. He can’t have it both ways.

[Alberta's Child]

That's a misleading way to look at it. The single biggest factor in our long-term decline in labor participation rates has been retirements. Bizarre as it may seem, an 80 year-old retiree who is not institutionalize is considered a "prospective worker, not seeking employment" in these labor statistics. If the labor force participation rate has risen even by just 0.5% over a two-year period period where we are in the peak years of Baby Boomer retirements, I'd say we are looking at a very tight labor market.