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.
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.