Monday, August 6, 2012

The civilian labor force, workforce participation rate, and employment-population ratio have all dropped, reflecting an economy where a growing number of Americans sees little opportunity

The number of adults not in the labor force has ballooned by over two million in the past twelve months to 88.34 million, and is a shocking 7.4 million higher than when the recession officially ended in June 2009. Full-time employment has dropped by 945,000 in the past four months, while the number of part-timers has increased by over a million. Full-time employment is now 7.5 million below its November 2007 peak. Overall, the economy actually lost 1.2 million jobs in July 2012 which is more than were lost in July 2004, 2005, or 2006. Real output per person is still $865 below where it was 4-1/2 years ago. At this figure’s rate of growth during the first half of 2012, real per capita GDP won’t be back to where it was in late 2007 until early 2014. The United States has falling wages, rising poverty, dangerous levels of dependency on the government, and a previously unthinkable chance of turning into the 21st century’s Argentina. Only a change in who is in charge, accompanied by a wholesale housecleaning and permanent pruning of the federal leviathan, can alter this unsustainable situation.
Related:
The Obama recovery isn’t worse than just the Reagan recovery, but also worse than the Teddy Roosevelt and Grover Cleveland recoveries

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