Friday, September 03, 2010

Employment Rate

I had wondered about the employment rate, since it is a better picture of discouraged workers and population changes.

And then I got this in an email from Henry Olsen. Not good.
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4 comments:

Melanie B. said...

What percentage of that do you think are retirees? It would make sense that the baby-boomers retiring would contribute to much of the drop in the rate of employment.

Dirty Davey said...

The first (born 1946) baby boomers are just this year turning 64--if boomer retirements are involved in the recent drop, they're taking early retirement.

Jesse said...

So, it's about 5% off the average? is that actually surprising? Is that strong evidence for the presence of the discouraged worker?

Anonymous said...

It's about 5% off the high. Certainly not the end of the world, but if it translates to a 5% drop in productive output (or worse as 5% more are being paid to do nothing through welfare and unemployment) then it's definitely significant.