Saturday, March 17, 2012
Jobless numbers defy economic theory
The unemployment rate is also influenced by the labor participation rate – that is, the percentage of working-age persons who are employed as well as unemployed and searching for work. While labor participation has been stabilizing recently, it has declined considerably over the years. And at 64%, the rate is two perecentage points lower than its pre-recession level. As Fortune pointed out last week, the drop might have less to do with discouraged workers giving up their job hunt (as economists widely believe), but also the flux of aging baby boomers retiring and leaving the labor pool altogether.
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6 comments:
The unemployment rate is just one or many measures that is used to look at the current economic situation. I don't see the drop in the labor participation rate as necessarily a bad thing. People have known for years that when the baby boomers retire they would have a huge impact on the economy.
I wonder about the impact on social security at a national level. Will this change in labor participation rate instigate change? Or will things continue as they have before, knowing that the future will hold difficulties?
I think the social security benefit does not rely on the labor participation but on how many job available at one time. with high unemployment and growing retiring population, there will be strain on the benefit.
I agree with the article. I do not think that just because we are 2 percentage points lower than our pre-recession levels in the LPR, that it is speaking to a failed recovery, or anything regarding that. I think that the flux of aging baby boomers retiring and leaving the labor pool altogether has definitely had a hand in this....
I agree with Frank. I believe we will continue to see huge effects from the baby boomers. As more and more of them begin to retire our economy is going to continue to see huge changes.
I agree with Frank and Lealavon. This is just the beginning sign of baby boomers. Later on we will find more influences brought by it in different ways, such as education, marriage rate and sex ratio.
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