Labor Participation Rate Drops To Fresh 38 Year Low; Record 92.9 Million Not In Labor Force

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/09/2015 08:52 -0500


Another month, another attempt by the BLS to mask the collapse in the US labor force with a goalseeked seasonally-adjusted surge in waiter, bartender and other low-paying jobs. Case in point: after a modest rebound by 0.1% in November, the labor participation rate just slid once more, dropping to 62.7%, or the lowest print since December 1977. This happened because the number of Americans not in the labor forced soared by 451,000 in December, far outpacing the 111,000 jobs added according to the Household Survey, and is the primary reason why the number of unemployed Americans dropped by 383,000.

This. This is the number I tell people to watch when it comes to employment. Don't look at the "Unemployment" number, it's the most cooked book in DeeCee (and the competition for that honor is stiff!). The weekly "New Unemployment Claims" is also cooked ("adjusted for seasonal"), but it's weekly so it's more timely. The monthly Labor Participation Rate is the most important figure because it's difficult to massage in order to lie to us.

The more a number is massaged, the more opportunity for lying, and we have a crew in the Executive Branch (and media) that lies like no other. The Obama bunch almost (almost!) makes the Clinton crew look honest by comparison.

Today's LPR number is why the market is taking a dump right now. It's not because of France.

I used to call it "Atmospheric Extrapolation." Same Ting.

When I hear those words, I internalize it as "Making s*** up as he's going along."

Which is precisely why the "Jobless rate falls to 5.6 percent" Jobless rate falls to 5.6 percent is just so much

Quote: Cincinnatus wrote in post #5

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Which is precisely why the "Jobless rate falls to 5.6 percent" Jobless rate falls to 5.6 percent is just so much

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