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Above posts discussed unemployement statistics and the Labor Participation Rate. Here's some background on the latter. Pix related.
US Labor Participation Rate
https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet
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https://www.thebalance.com/labor-force-participation-rate-formula-and-examples-3305805
Labor Force Participation Rate and Why It Hasn't Improved Much
Five Reasons Why Workers Dropped Out and Won't Come Back
By Kimberly Amadeo
Updated June 07, 2019
The labor force participation rate refers to the number of people available for work as a percentage of the total population. In May 2019, it was 62.8%.
It measures the amount of labor in an economy, one of the factors of production. The other three are natural resources, capital, and entrepreneurship.
LFPR Formula
Here's how to calculate the labor force participation rate:
LFPR = Labor Force / Civilian Non-Institutionalized Population
where the Labor Force = Employed + Unemployed
To calculate the formula correctly, you must first understand the underlying definitions outlined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS is the Federal agency that reports on the labor force and its participation rate every month in the Jobs Report. Here they are:
Civilian non-institutional population - Everyone living in the United States who is 16 or older minus inmates of institutions such as prisons, nursing homes, and mental hospitals and minus those on active duty in the Armed Forces.
Labor force - Everyone who is classified as either employed or unemployed.
Employed - Anyone aged 16+ in the civilian non-institutional population who worked in the last week. They are those who worked an hour or more as paid employees or 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in a family-owned business or farm. It also includes those who had jobs or businesses, but didn't work that week because they were on vacation, sick, were on maternity or paternity leave, on strike, were in training, or had some other family or personal reasons why they didn't work. It doesn't matter whether it was paid time off or not.
Each worker is only counted once, even if they hold two or more jobs. Volunteer work and work around the house do not count.
Unemployed - Those aged 16 or more who weren't employed, but are available for work and are actively looked for a job within the past four weeks. People who are only waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off are counted as unemployed, even if they didn't look for work. Contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with the number of people who applied for or receive unemployment benefits. Instead, this figure is derived from a BLS survey. The BLS sets the definition of unemployment.
People who would like to work, but haven't actively looked for it in the last month are not counted as being in the labor force no matter how much they want a job. But they are counted in the population.
The BLS does keep track of them. It calls some of them "marginally attached to the labor force." These are people who have looked in the past year but just not in the previous month. They might have had school or family responsibilities, ill health, or transportation problems that prevented them from looking recently.
The BLS calls some of the marginally attached, "discouraged workers." These people have reported that they've given up looking for work because they don't believe there are any jobs for them. Others have become discouraged because they lack the right schooling or training. They worry that the potential employer thinks they are too young or too old. Some have suffered discrimination. They are counted in the real unemployment rate.
The other group that isn't included in the labor force comprises students, homemakers, retired people, and those under 16 who are working. Still, they are counted in the population.
Current Rate
Here's how to calculate the labor force participation rate for May 2019.
History
The labor force participation rate increased from 1948 until the late 1990s. From 1948 to 1963, the rate remained below 60%. But the rate slowly inched up as more women entered the labor force, breaking 61% in the early 1970s. It rose to 63% in the 1980s and reached a peak of 67.3% in January 2000.
The 2001 recession lowered the LFPR fell to 65.9% in April 2004. It didn't improve throughout the "jobless recovery." The 2008 financial crisis sent the participation rate to 62.3% by October 2015. By November 2018, it had only risen to 62.9%.
[Moar at website]