[Written January 16 2014]
Rush starting going after President Obama about the high number of people not participating in the work force (raises hand!)
Rush does some things well, some things he does poorly. Math is not his strong suit.
So what is this statistic and what does it mean?
Here is useful data which shows some surprising things
Everyone 16 and over is in the “labor pool”. It doesn’t matter if you’re 75 or if you’re completely disabled or attending high school. If you are in prison or the military, you are “not in the labor force”. It isn’t clear how non-citizens are accounted for.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
Keep in mind, these are estimates. Things like people using cell phones and not answering calls from strangers might be a problem.
As the Washington Post points out, it’s not due to baby boomers retiring – people 55 and over are drastically increasing their participation in the work force – over 10% of people 75 and older are still working.
The steep decline is in the 25 and younger group, especially whites like Pajama Boy. Many are going to extended college careers, living on borrowed money. Raising the minimum wage encourages employers to choose older more experienced workers.
People with college degrees have a 3% unemployment rate