We are still losing jobs

The White House was delighted when the unemployment rate dropped to 9.1% and 117,000 jobs were reportedly created in July 2011. But these numbers, upon closer inspection, show no progress on the jobs front. Buried in the job statistics was a number — 193,000 — that dwarfed all the rest. That is the number of workers who left the job market. If 193,000 left and only 117,000 jobs were added, we lost 76,000 jobs. When President Obama took office in January of 2009, the labor participation rate was 65.7%. Now it is only 63.9% which is the lowest level since 1984. If the labor force participation rate at present were 65.7%, there would be an additional 4.2 million people in the workforce. In that case, the unemployment rate would be 11.5%, not 9.1%. It only looks like the unemployment rate is dropping because unemployed people have become discouraged and stopped looking for work.