– Labor Participation Rate Drops To 36 Year Low; Record 92.6 Million Americans Not In Labor Force (ZeroHedge, Oct 3, 2014):
While by now everyone should know the answer, for those curious why the US unemployment rate just slid once more to a meager 5.9%, the lowest print since the summer of 2008, the answer is the same one we have shown every month since 2010: the collapse in the labor force participation rate, which in September slid from an already three decade low 62.8% to 62.7% – the lowest in over 36 years, matching the February 1978 lows. And while according to the Household Survey, 232,000 people found jobs, what is more disturbing is that the people not in the labor force, rose to a new record high, increasing by 315,000 to 92.6 million!
And that’s how you get a fresh cycle low in the unemployment rate.
So the next time Obama asks you if you are “better off now than 6 years ago” show him this chart of employment to the overall population: it speaks louder than the president ever could.
My numbers are higher than that, but not by much.
How many people are employed at McDonalds? The reason I ask is that they are doing to their workers what the industrialists did to the shoemakers guild in 1852. They went on strike for a living wage (as McDonald workers have done) and the industrialists purchased machines that made shoes for them, putting the entire craft out of business.
I am not likening McDonald workers to the shoemakers, they had an honest craft, and made some exquisite shoes. I really like fine shoes, but have never eaten at McDonalds.
But, McDonalds is automating all their stores, putting all the workers out of a job. It is being started as I write this.
They are crappy jobs, not nearly as interesting as shoemaking………..
But, the strategy is the same.
Oppose us and we will automate your job.
Amazon is working on small drones to replace drivers delivering their packages.
How far is this going to be allowed to go?
Don’t the greedy guts understand if nobody has a job, nobody can buy anything.
100 million working age Americans are out of work. 52 million more work at part time dead end jobs.
This is nearly half the entire population of 335 million……
Does anyone see a problem here?