Tag: participation rate

Behind the shrinking labor force

  There appears to be a lot of confusion and debate concerning the shrinking labor force participation numbers. People seem to have very strong opinions on both sides.

 On one side you have the people who believe that the government is messaging the data to hide the unemployment rate by simply not counting unemployed people.

 To these people I say: if it is a conspiracy it is a poorly concealed one, since the topic is debated even in the news media.

 On the other side you have two groups: a) those who believe that people are simply retiring early, or b) that this is nothing more than a continuation of a long-term trend.

 It is this latter group’s beliefs that I would like to address directly