Share of working-age Americans with a job is the lowest in decades
In the debate about whether the headline unemployment rate tells the whole story about the labor market, here’s another data point indicating there’s more than meets the eye. From the Washington Post:
The proportion of Americans in their prime working years who have jobs is smaller than it has been at any time in the 23 years before the recession, according to federal statistics, reflecting the profound and lasting effects that the downturn has had on the nation’s economic prospects.
By this measure, the jobs situation has improved little in recent years. The percentage of workers between the ages of 25 and 54 who have jobs now stands at 75.7 percent, just a percentage point over what it was at the downturn’s worst, according to federal statistics.
Before the recession the proportion hovered at 80 percent.
The story explains once more why the headline unemployment rate, which has held steady or fallen for 11 straight months, doesn’t paint the whole picture. Short answer: It’s about the continued problem of people giving up searching for work and taking themselves, statistically speaking, out of the work force — leading the unemployment rate to fall at a faster pace than job creation is rising.
But even this stat for 25- to 54-year-olds doesn’t tell the whole story. Further down in the article, we read:
The falloff has been sharpest for men, for whom the proportion had been on a slow decline before the recession. The percentage of prime-age men who are working is smaller now than it has been in any time before the recession, going all the way back to 1948, according to federal statistics. The proportion of prime-age women is at a low not seen since 1988.
That’s right: The proportion of prime-age men with a job is the smallest in at least 64 years. I say “at least” because 1948 is as far back as federal labor statistics go.
In the immediate future, this reality means the job market will have a larger impact on President Obama’s re-election chances than the steadily declining unemployment rate would suggest. Until participation in the labor force readjusts to historically normal levels, the unemployment rate doesn’t tell us as much as it once did. So the usual measures of how an incumbent does when the jobless rate is above or below X percent won’t do prognosticators as much good.
More broadly, however, this speaks to the issues Charles Murray highlights in his recent book, “Coming Apart.” Murray documents the dramatic divergence in employment between what he calls “the new upper class” and “the new lower class” — and argues that government programs that foster a culture of dependence and lack of personal responsibility have enabled this joblessness among men who otherwise ought to be working.
That broader context of the competing political ideologies in our country makes it all the more worthwhile for these depressing employment trends to be at the center of this year’s presidential campaign.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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240 comments Add your comment
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 30th, 2012
4:02 pm
Even the wealthy will tell you that only the middle class can drive an economy. The only way the rich would be able to drive an economy this size was if their numbers grew substantially. They can afford a lot but not as much as the great unwashed mass in the middle.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 30th, 2012
4:07 pm
I understand the market forces far, far better than you can ever comprehend, Finn.
And it all boils down to government interference in them.
Jefferson
May 30th, 2012
4:12 pm
Why will seperated Romney from the GOP that lost the last election due to policies that led to the crash and burn of the US.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 30th, 2012
4:12 pm
“Its the math that gets them!”
You mean like comparing 2 minutes on Fox to 18 hours on MSNBC, Finn?
Oh, right. That’s just arithmetic you don’t understand . . . .
Dusty
May 30th, 2012
4:13 pm
Finn,
You don’t believe in equality , do you? If we are to be treated equally in the USA, everybody pays taxes by the same rates. Money belongs to the people that made it or got it legally. It does not belong to anybody else, including the government.
I don’t know how you got so far from the basic tenants of American government which were founded on God, liberty and equality. I hope you are the exception.
I want to keep our basic values and not some pretense of being nice zombies spoon fed by government. It is a killer effort for our country as a free nation.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 30th, 2012
4:14 pm
Tiberius, I believe Sesame Street is on now.
….maybe the Count will be on today – just for you!
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 30th, 2012
4:18 pm
You’re the one who doesn’t know the difference between 2 minutes and 18 hours, Finn.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 30th, 2012
4:19 pm
Dusty, the unfairness is what I’m complaining about!
(Finn bangs head against brick wall.)
What part of this do you think is fair?:
I have 85% of my income to spend any way I want. The other guy only has 75% of his income to spend any way he wants.
md
May 30th, 2012
4:20 pm
“I have 85% of my income to spend any way I want. The other guy only has 75% of his income to spend any way he wants.”
And the other guy always has the option to go get more……..and not from someone else.
Don't Tread
May 30th, 2012
4:22 pm
Liberals don’t believe in God, equality, and especially liberty. More like atheism, “fairness”, and socialism, which is why they are attempting to destroy the principles on which this country was founded and replace it with their own set of “values”.
Hillbilly D
May 30th, 2012
4:23 pm
I still say the thing to do is tax all forms of income at the same rate and tax everybody the same. Get rid of all the loopholes, credits and subsidies and everybody pays a set %. Hopefully, I’m going to live a good while longer but I’ll never live long enough to see that happen. I may be eccentric but I ain’t naive.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 30th, 2012
4:23 pm
Ok, tiberius, I’ll play.
1. Fox is a so-called news channel that runs 24 hours a day.
2. MSNBC is a so-called news channel that runs 24 hours a day (not sure where you got the 18 hour day…in my world a day is 24 hours.)
1. Fox leans conservative for all 24 hours.
2. MSNBC leans liberal for all 24 hours.
1. FOX creates it’s own political ad to run any 2 minutes during that 24 hour period. Likely, multiple times.
2. MSNBC creates…..umm. Hmmm
Can you comprehend the difference now? Didn’t think so.
md
May 30th, 2012
4:24 pm
Well Finn…….should a student that studies 24/7, does no partying and makes all A’s have to share those A’s with a student that parties 24/7, does no studying and makes all F’s??
Too often, folks like you discount all the other variables in the equation……….
ld
May 30th, 2012
4:25 pm
(sarcasm alert)
How can you even suggest there aren’t enough jobs; after all the Bush tax cuts haved been prompting the creation of new jobs hand over fist for a long while now, huh?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 30th, 2012
4:26 pm
And the other guy always has the option to go get more……..and not from someone else.
OMG, you too md?
Getting “More” money is not the point!!!!!!! It’s the percentage on each $1 (one dollar) you are expecting each of them to pay!!!
md
May 30th, 2012
4:31 pm
“Getting “More” money is not the point!!!!!!! It’s the percentage on each $1 (one dollar) you are expecting each of them to pay!!!”
No, that’s not about fairness…..that’s about your perception of fairness. I have members of my own family that choose…..note that word…..choose to not work more than they absolutely have to to just get by…….and they get money “back” from the badly named “earned income credit”…..so tell me Finn…….what is fair about people choosing to NOT pay taxes??
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 30th, 2012
4:32 pm
ok, md, i’ll play and use a similar analogy to yours.
A guy who sits in an office trading money has to share 15% of every dollar he makes with all the other Americans.
A guy who digs ditches for a living has to share 18%-28% of what he makes with all the other Americans.
Can you comprehend which personis actually giving up MORE of his hard earned money?
Dusty
May 30th, 2012
4:34 pm
Finn,
The fairness starts in the beginning. That is why we have a constitution to keep our country one of justice and equality.
No one can guarantee results. We can only start fairly. That is why so many want to come to America. They know they will get a fair start.
Likewise,most of us try to do the best we can for our children. We try to be equal and fair and good parents. But the outcomes are unpredictable even with the best of efforts. But we do the best we can to give them a good start but they grow into adults with minds of their own. That get freedom, for better or worse.
That is the way our government works. It cannot guarantee equal outcomes. The communist tried to make it so until death and freedom went kaput. Nazis tried to favor the “best” but not the rest and terror came.
Government is our protector in many ways but it is not our life director. Let us not give it that power.
Jefferson
May 30th, 2012
4:34 pm
Progressive income taxes are the most fair. Not fair, neither is income.
Jack
May 30th, 2012
4:35 pm
Working-age people without a job didn’t prepare well.
@@
May 30th, 2012
4:36 pm
Hillbilly:
I still say the thing to do is tax all forms of income at the same rate and tax everybody the same. Get rid of all the loopholes, credits and subsidies and everybody pays a set %.
I read THAT!!!!
(ISH)
It would remove sooooooooooo much power from politicians. We couldn’t be used, one against the other.
md
May 30th, 2012
4:36 pm
“A guy who sits in an office trading money has to share 15% of every dollar he makes with all the other Americans.
A guy who digs ditches for a living has to share 18%-28% of what he makes with all the other Americans.”
And again, you miss the point……..the other variables in the equation include things like choices. The guy sitting at the desk and the guy digging that ditch choose to be doing so…….and therefore are making the choice of compensation……..
Teachers aren’t paid very well in my opinion, but every one of them know that going in…….and that is how the game is played…….want more, then make the choice to go get more……otherwise, quit bitching about what one doesn’t get.
We choose everything we do…………
JDW
May 30th, 2012
4:37 pm
@Rafe…”So, blowing a terrorist and occasionally their families and friends up with a drone strike, without proof or trial, is better than waterboarding them? ”
Yep. One is an Act of War. The other torture of a prisoner.
Hillbilly D
May 30th, 2012
4:41 pm
It would remove sooooooooooo much power from politicians.
It would remove a lot of business for lawyers and accountants, too. That’s another reason it won’t happen.
@@
May 30th, 2012
4:41 pm
I can now lay claim to having plucked a chicken. One feather left in a grocery bird.
I have arrived!
(ISH)
JDW
May 30th, 2012
4:42 pm
@Dusty…”A smart idea in almost all circumstances.”
Boy you are delusional…how did that turn out for us? BTW, the CIA and British Intelligence had no input on how to wage a counter terrorism war inside the US, that was Clarke’s job. Why in fact I think it is Constitutionally prohibited for the CIA to operate inside the US. I think you are confusing WMD’s with Osama Bin Laden.
@@
May 30th, 2012
4:43 pm
Hillbilly:
The lawyers could always run for office…their second CAREER choice.
Kyle Wingfield
May 30th, 2012
4:43 pm
Finn @ 4:19: Given that the U.S. has the most progressive tax code in the industrialized world, I can only infer that “the other guy” earns more than you. Are you suggesting we cut his tax rate?
md
May 30th, 2012
4:44 pm
“Yep. One is an Act of War. The other torture of a prisoner.”
Yet we as a society seem to have no problem when we waterboard our own troops during training to prepare them for the worst case scenario.
Nor do we seem to be outraged about using electric shock on our own citizens or police forces when we incorporate the use of tasers on a daily basis…….
All this fake outrage about waterboarding is a bunch of bull dookey……..
It’s kin to all the war protests against Bush that have for the most part shriveled up and blown away as Obama continues with the same behavior………
JDW
May 30th, 2012
4:45 pm
@Tiberius…”I understand the market forces far, far better than you can ever comprehend”
Hillbilly D
May 30th, 2012
4:46 pm
The lawyers could always run for office…
Too many of them already have.
I can now lay claim to having plucked a chicken.
You bought a chicken that still had the feathers? Oh well, scalding is the worst part of it. (ISH)
JDW
May 30th, 2012
4:47 pm
@MD…”Yet we as a society seem to have no problem when we waterboard our own troops during training to prepare them for the worst case scenario.”
We ask them first and they, for the most part, bravely consent.
“Nor do we seem to be outraged about using electric shock on our own citizens or police forces when we incorporate the use of tasers on a daily basis”
I suppose you prefer real bullets?
Don Abernethy
May 30th, 2012
4:49 pm
I am in the process of making some major changes in the way we have to live if Obama is re-elected. Unfortunately there is no place to move to in the world that is any better than the US. But if Obama is re-elected those of us who are seniors will have to make some major changes to survive.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 30th, 2012
4:50 pm
Actually, Finn, if you’d ever watch Fox News, you’d see that they run NEWS programs from 5:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. (always having liberals and conservatives debating issues when political), then Cavuto comes on. It is a financial NEWS program that does have conservative opinion on it. Then at 5:00 p.m. The Five comes on. That panel is weighted towards conservatives, but ALWAYS contains at least one liberal (something MSNBC does not do). At 6:00 is Special Report, which received the best rating for actual fair and balanced NEWS coverage during the 2008 campaign by the Center for Media and Public Affairs. At 7:00 p.m. is hard NEWS with the Fox Report. Only at 8:00 p.m. comes the three opinion shows Fox runs, and they only run until 11:00 in their original broadcasts.
On MSNBC, the day begins with Morning Joe at 6:00 a.m., with a revolving panel of liberal columnists and hosts outnumbering conservative commentators by 3 or 4 to 1. There are NO hard NEWS programs for the rest of the day; only opinion programs with uber-liberal hosts like Alex Wagner, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Martin Bashir, Lawrence O’Donnell, Andrea Mitchell (although she tries hard at times to be objective), Al Sharpton and of course Ed Schultz.
At night, both networks recycle certain programs, with the exception of Red Eye on Fox at 3:00 a.m. and MSNBC does some paid programming early mornings.
So your one-note “Fox is biased” screed is debunked with facts. But then, reality isn’t your strong suit, is it?
md
May 30th, 2012
4:50 pm
“I suppose you prefer real bullets?”
That is called an excuse or justification for an action……..so as I said, the outrage vanishes depending on the excuse.
Either it’s wrong or it’s right……picking and choosing is so bogus.
@@
May 30th, 2012
4:51 pm
Finn:
Napkin Notes on the Art of Living: I use this book as one of my reference books on Life, rereading it periodically to remind myself of its points. It’s wise, funny, comforting and makes one intensely angry and prone to argue against what it has to say… out loud.
The basic premise of the book is that we’re responsible for everything that happens to us. Step off a curb and get hit by a truck? We’re responsible. People push our buttons? Whose buttons are they? Ours. We’re responsible.
The part I used to argue with (I’ve read the book so many times I “get it” now so have ceased arguing with it) was the simplicity of Durst’s arguments. He compares us to giant tubes and Wurlitzer machines and shows how we often choose to be actors in the cheaper, more melodramatic shows of Life. It’s not a flattering picture.
Read it! Absorb it! Live it!
md
May 30th, 2012
4:51 pm
“We ask them first and they, for the most part, bravely consent.”
Sorry, but our military doesn’t “ask” the ranks if they “want” to do anything……..the operative word is “tell”……..
JDW
May 30th, 2012
4:53 pm
@Don Abernethy…”But if Obama is re-elected those of us who are seniors will have to make some major changes to survive.”
I think you are confused Don. It’s Ryan and the Republicans that want to end Medicare as we know it and reduce Social Security. Vote for the President to keep the investments you made in those programs over the years as secure as possible.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 30th, 2012
4:55 pm
“So, blowing a terrorist and occasionally their families and friends up with a drone strike, without proof or trial, is better than waterboarding them? ”
Yep. One is an Act of War. The other torture of a prisoner.”
Actually, JDW, the correct answer is that one is permanent and one is temporary.
You can always recover from a waterboarding.
Me, I’m still wondering when the Nobel Committee is going to ask for their Peace Prize back from the first U.S. President to have a kill list complete with playing cards. You know, the one where there has been no trial or due process?
JDW
May 30th, 2012
4:55 pm
@Tiberius…WOW you know the Faux News schedule by heart…that explains a lot.
NPR Listeners=Informed…Faux News not so much…
http://reason.com/blog/2012/05/23/survey-says-npr-listeners-least-uninform
JDW
May 30th, 2012
4:56 pm
@Tiberius…”one is permanent and one is temporary.”
I have no problem with that whatsoever. In fact I prefer it.
Dusty
May 30th, 2012
4:58 pm
JDW,
I am talking about the entire war on terrorism which started with bin Laden and culumated with the attack of 9/11. WMDs were still a part of it. Bush did all he could to protect us, from homeland terrorists to wmds which would disrupt not only the USA but the entire world.
If you are so determined to justify one man’s rejected opinion against the president of the USA with all security systems reporting to him, then go for it. You continue the war on Bush instead of the best for our country. We have been protected! Bush was for all Americans, not for just one political party, as you are.
JDW
May 30th, 2012
4:58 pm
@MD…”Sorry, but our military doesn’t “ask” the ranks if they “want” to do anything”
Check the enlistment papers.
MarkV
May 30th, 2012
5:03 pm
Dusty @ 4:13 pm: “If we are to be treated equally in the USA, everybody pays taxes by the same rates.”
Unfortunately, this kind of simplistic thinking is all too common.
JDW
May 30th, 2012
5:06 pm
@Dusty…”You continue the war on Bush instead of the best for our country. ”
I believe that Bush was the worst President this country has ever known and by in large the Presidential Scholar Community agrees with that assessment.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/07/01/nations-leading-presidential-scholars-bush-worst-president-modern-era-5th-worst-history/
That said I believe that when people, such as yourself, want to gloss over that truth and make irrational statements like…
“Having an honest, strong, dependable, patriotic, hard-working, ethical president again will certainly be refreshing”
it is my duty, on behalf of the well being of the country, to counter those arguments to my last breath.
Now if you want to talk about what’s good for the country I am all for it, as long as we are clear Bush and anyone like him are BAD FOR THE COUNTRY.
Dusty
May 30th, 2012
5:07 pm
Dear chicken plucking @@,
I hope you enjoy your chicken. My husband plucked one with the hot water and smell and couldn’t eat chicken for many months after that. He’s “chicken” about plucking chickens!
Sorry to hear about Victor Hill, your reinvigorated possible sherriff or something. Have hope. Maybe Cynthia McKinney will name him as her vice president in the Green Party.
Now I go to eat chicken & noodles. I’m not “chicken”. Pass me a wing!
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 30th, 2012
5:07 pm
JDW, if you had actually taken the time to notice (which you never do), I pretty much showed I know BOTH cable news outlets pretty well.
What is your point?
md
May 30th, 2012
5:09 pm
“It’s Ryan and the Republicans that want to end Medicare as we know it and reduce Social Security. Vote for the President to keep the investments you made in those programs over the years as secure as possible.”
If the programs are no longer viable as is, common sense dictates making changes vs doing nothing.
Much like a company in trouble……makes more sense for all to take a pay cut or cut a percentage of the workforce vs allowing ALL to go down with a sinking ship.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 30th, 2012
5:10 pm
“Unfortunately, this kind of simplistic thinking is all too common.”
Yeah, MaryV, because true equality, rather than pitting one class of people against another based on envy, is just so damned passe.
@@
May 30th, 2012
5:14 pm
For all the twits out there.
Oops! Now You Can Track the Tweets Politicians Tried to Delete
Not sure why anyone would care, but then there ARE those with nuthin’ else to do.
schnirt