Federal Reserve Action Increasingly Likely After Disappointing August Jobs...
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added 96,000 jobs in August, a tepid figure that points to the economy's persistent weakness and slowing prospects for the unemployed. The unemployment rate fell to 8.1...
View ArticleBernanke Seen Not Knowing Jobless Rate Less Than Fed Predictions
David Waldrop, 59, says he considers himself retired after searching unsuccessfully for work comparable to the job he lost in July 2007 at the U.S. Department of Energy in Atlanta. “There was...
View ArticleJobless rate turned higher in August, but labor force participation rate rose
A dip in the unemployment rate in July turned out to be just that, as the proportion of jobless in the labor force shot up in August to a seasonally adjusted 6.9%, the Central Bureau of Statistics...
View ArticleAmericans Collecting Disability Spikes, While Labor Force Participation...
Mike "Mish" Shedlock URL Mike "Mish" Shedlock Mish is an investment advisor at Sitka Pacific Capital. He writes the widely read Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis. Recent Posts Illinois Borrowing...
View ArticleThe Bad News Behind a Falling Jobless Rate
It sounds like welcome news. The unemployment rate dropped from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent, the sharpest one-month drop since 1998. After months of grim news about jobs, it finally seems like things...
View ArticleShrinking work force mystifies economists
WASHINGTON - Where did all the workers go? The labor force - those who have a job or are looking for one - is getting smaller, even though the economy is growing and steadily adding jobs. That trend...
View ArticleWhy unemployment rate fell: Fewer people seek jobs
WASHINGTON - U.S. employers added 96,000 jobs in August, a tepid figure that points to the economy's persistent weakness and slowing prospects for the unemployed. The unemployment rate fell to 8.1...
View ArticleThe Vanishing Workers
The economy turned in another lackluster month for job creation in April, with 115,000 net new jobs, 130,000 in private business (less 15,000 fewer in government). The unemployment rate fell a tick to...
View ArticleUS unemployment rate falls to the lowest levels since early 2009
REUTERS - U.S. employment rose by a meager 36,000 jobs in January, far less than expected, as severe snow storms slammed large parts of the nation, but the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level...
View ArticleRegion's jobless rate is lowest in three years
The unemployment rate in the Buffalo Niagara region dropped to 7.3 percent in August -- its lowest level since 2008, the state Labor Department reported Tuesday. The jobless rate was better than the...
View ArticleAnalysis: Why did 1.2 million U.S. workers leave job force?
WASHINGTON — It's a mystery with many plausible solutions: Why did 1.2 million Americans drop out of the labor force over the past three months? Had they stayed in the job market, the unemployment...
View ArticleJobless rate often too rosy
When the government announces its February unemployment report at 8:30 a.m. today, all eyes will fall on the "official" rate -- be it 8.3 percent or some tick up or down. But many economists say that...
View ArticleOlder workers exiting fast, shrinking the labor force, study says
WASHINGTON -- New research challenges the conventional wisdom that the unemployment rate is falling because workers have given up looking for a job and have exited the labor force, and the rate likely...
View ArticleAs fewer people seek jobs, unemployment rate dips
WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. employers added 96,000 jobs in August, a tepid figure that points to the economys persistent weakness and slowing prospects for the unemployed. The unemployment rate fell to...
View ArticleWeak job growth feeds fears of slowdown
WASHINGTON -- The nation's long, hard ride to recovery went off track in the spring: Job growth slowed for the second straight month, raising fresh fears about the underlying strength of the economy....
View ArticleBoomers' exits shrink labor force
WASHINGTON -- New research challenges the conventional wisdom that the unemployment rate is falling because workers have given up looking for a job and have exited the labor force, and the rate likely...
View ArticleMore Americans Dropping Out of the Labor Force
I’ve written before about the very low share of Americans who are in the labor force right now. In February, for example, just 64.2 percent of adults were either in a job or actively looking for one,...
View ArticleLabor Department jobs report stronger than expected, but short-term outlook...
Hiring usually slows at the holidays, but Palm Beach County businesses have been on a “steady, slow incline” all year, said Joan Ciferri, president of David Wood Personnel. This is the first time in...
View ArticleBaby Boomers and the Shrinking Work Force
CATHERINE RAMPELL Dollars to doughnuts. Among the lowlights of the jobs report for April was the news that the share of adults who are either working or looking for work fell. For men, this measure —...
View ArticleExit of older workers shrinks country's labor force
WASHINGTON -- New research challenges the conventional wisdom that the unemployment rate is falling because workers have given up looking for a job and that the rate likely will climb once these...
View ArticleJobs report: As fewer try to find work, unemployment rate drops to 8.1 percent
The unemployment rate moved downward another notch in April, to 8.1 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday, but the drop was hardly the good news it seemed to be. The unemployment figure, which...
View ArticleNovember Jobs Report Hides Darker Details
Another month, another jobs report with something for both the optimists and pessimists. Here's something both should agree on, though: The job market is still not nearly strong enough. The...
View ArticleDoes a lower unemployment rate mean a better labor market?
The government’s latest jobs report offered both good news and bad news, reflecting an emerging reality of the nation’s economy. The unemployment rate dipped from 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent in...
View ArticleLabor Loss Spurs Search of U.S. Churches, Libraries for Dropouts: Economy
In the nation’s capital, city employees are scouring churches, libraries, and community centers to find people who have dropped out of the labor force and help them get jobs. “The most surprising...
View ArticleStudy: older workers are exiting fast, shrinking the labor force
WASHINGTON - New research challenges the conventional wisdom that the unemployment rate is falling because workers have given up looking for a job and have exited the labor force, and the rate likely...
View ArticleOlder workers are exiting fast, shrinking the labor force, study says
New research challenges the conventional wisdom that the unemployment rate is falling because workers have given up looking for a job and have exited the labor force, and the rate likely will climb...
View ArticleCHART OF THE DAY: Labor Force Participation Falls To Lowest Level In Over...
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent in April, but investors are quick to point out that much of this decline could be generated by a drop in labor force participation, not true jobs growth....
View ArticleWeak job growth makes bold Fed action more likely
WASHINGTON -- U.S. employers added 96,000 jobs in August, a tepid figure that points to the economy's persistent weakness and slowing prospects for the unemployed. The unemployment rate fell to 8.1...
View ArticleUnemployment Rate Falls To 8.1 Percent As People Give Up On Looking For Work
While the U.S. unemployment rate in April was the lowest it's been in more than three years, the unemployed may simply be falling off the government's radar as they give up looking for work....
View ArticleJobs report shows effects of the incredible shrinking U.S. labor force
If the same percentage of adults were in the workforce today as when Barack Obama took office, the unemployment rate would be 11.1 percent. If the percentage was where it was when George W. Bush took...
View ArticleDrop in U.S. Unemployment Rate Early Sign of Coming Labor Shift: Economy
The drop in U.S. unemployment so far this year may be an early glimpse of what’s to come as the workforce ages. The jobless rate, which was 9.4 percent in December 2010, declined to 8.6 percent last...
View ArticleRetiring Baby Boomers And The Labor Market
Bloomberg appears to attribute the drop in the labor force participation rate to retiring baby-boomers: The drop in U.S. unemployment so far this year may be an early glimpse of what’s to come as the...
View ArticleMisunderstanding Declines In Labor Force Participation
This past Friday, like the first Friday of every month, saw the release of the latest jobs numbers. Within minutes of the release, analysts left, right, and center began pointing nervously at August's...
View ArticleLabor Force Participation Rate Lowest In Three Decades, Though Despair...
You might have heard that unemployment fell in August only because armies of the unemployed are despairing of finding work. The reality is more complicated -- but it's true enough that somebody should...
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