http://www.moneycrashers.com/what-is-national-us-unemployment-rate/
Your source, as with those who believe in other “zero sum” situations which don't exist (take the GOPe’s calculation that the GOP must appeal to illegal immigrants to win any election, as one example), leaves out a huge number of people that are available or swayable. Your source also leaves out anyone who is working in a temp or part-time job outside of their area of expertise to get by until something better shows up.
Do you have better numbers available?
Nobody has better numbers.
And, yes, I know exactly how all the numbers I cited are calculated. But, maybe you also know what you’re talking about. So, let’s have a pop test:
The other side says the explanation of the falling labor force participation is due to the aging of the population. I presume you are aware that the population is aging, and that people 55 to 64, and 65 and older have lower labor force participation than persons 25 to 54. Do you know what effect the aging of the population has had on labor force participation? And, therefore, whether what the other side says actually explains most of the fall in labor force participation?
I said trade skills have been identified in surveys of personnel managers to be the number 1 labor shortage during the past five years. How about you tell me what has been the number 1 labor shortage during the past years, and give me your source.
I said there’s about a $2 trillion gap between current GDP and potential GDP. What is your estimate of this gap, and how did you arrive at it?
I said people of low to middle income have no real incentive to work because of the taxes they would pay, and the benefits they would lose. Let’s say a person making $10 an hour works 20 hours a week, and currently qualifies for EITC, food stamps, subsidized housing, who qualified for expanded Medicaid and who has one child in college with a Pell Grant. How much does that person improve themselves by working 40 hours a week instead of 20?