Black unemployment rate hits new record low in May

www.washingtonexaminer.com ^ | 06/01/2018 | by Pete Kasperowicz

[bgill]

Cut the welfare cycle and more will have to get off their backsides to provide for themselves and their kids.

[joesbucks]

Dead people aren’t counted as part of the labor force.

[Red Badger]

But they are counted as part of the voting force..................in some places....................

[joesbucks]

That could be. But they don’t fall under the labor force participation rate.

[Red Badger]

But they don’t fall under the labor force participation rate.

Especially government workers....................

[kosciusko51]

I notice that the labor force utilization rate has remained more or less flat since 2016 after 8 years of steady decline.

[Red Badger]

Baby Boomers are retiring and dying off at the same rate that the millenials are entering the force to replace them..............

[joesbucks]

So the current jobs explosion began in 2016?

[kosciusko51]

I made no inference from the data.

[joesbucks]

Then what was the purpose of pointing that out?

[kosciusko51]

You (post #7): “Remember when the unemployment rate numbers were touted as meaningless stats, but the true number was the labor force utilization rate? That rate for the overall population ticked down .1% again to 62.7%. .2% lower than when the President took office in Jan., 2017.”

Me (post #26): “I notice that the labor force utilization rate has remained more or less flat since 2016 after 8 years of steady decline.”

The point is that the small fluctuation that you are pointing out is noise compared to the drop that occurred from 2008 to 2016, and the minor drop since Trump was elected is more or less noise, given the data from 2016 to now. Others have commented on the why.

[joesbucks]

Others comments have not necessarily been factual. And the flat lining actually began in 2014 with a blip downward in the fall of 2015 but it returned to the basic flat line that has continued to this day shortly after that. That would indicate that whatever is happening today likely began in 2014 with the exception of the blip and continues to today.

My point is based on all the bravado, that number should be trending up instead of being a flat line.

Something additional that I'm seeing is I've represented my employer at job fairs recently. I'm seeing larger numbers of people seeking jobs than before. With unemployment being so low, I'm surprised at the growth in numbers. These are necessarily uneducated or unskilled people. I'm also seeing more homeless people begging. And more aggressively. It has really up-ticked in the past 2 years. That data point is in my little corner of the world, but others may be seeing the same.

[kosciusko51]

Others comments have not necessarily been factual.

I did not say they were, I pointed out others have commented on them. If you take exception to the comments, discuss them with the other posters.

That would indicate that whatever is happening today likely began in 2014 with the exception of the blip and continues to today.

That's a fair assessment. So it has been flat roughly the last four years.

My point is based on all the bravado, that number should be trending up instead of being a flat line.

I don't know enough to comment on why they are flatlining. All I know it is better than cratering like they did from 2008 to 2014.

Something additional that I'm seeing is I've represented my employer at job fairs recently. I'm seeing larger numbers of people seeking jobs than before. With unemployment being so low, I'm surprised at the growth in numbers. These are necessarily uneducated or unskilled people.

Are these people recently displaced from a job, or have they been unemployed for more than two years? Anecdotal stories don't paint the entire picture.

I'm also seeing more homeless people begging. And more aggressively. It has really up-ticked in the past 2 years.

I'm not sure where you are, but I have not seen this in my corner of the world. Actually, where I am, I see a lot of high tech companies looking for skilled labor that requires US citizenship. But again, anecdotal stories don't paint the entire picture.

[joesbucks]

The fact that my experience is anecdotal was noted that what I was experiencing was in my little corner of the world. I am seeing needs for specific skills. Some are high tech. Some are skilled labor such as construction. The balance seem to be entry level.

With regard to begging people, my area of the world has a less than 3% unemployment rate. I also recently took a period of extended travel and experienced the same in the places I traveled. Such as St. Louis, OKC, Amarillo, El Paso, Albuquerque and Colorado Springs. I don't have a good feel for their employment pictures, but beggars seemed to be on many corners.