Labor Force Participation Rate Essay

As of March, 2013 the U.S. National Unemployment rate was 7.6%. A total of 11.7 million people were reported as unemployed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This rate is improved from the height of the recent recession, where the statistic floated around 9%, but it is still not the usual 3-4% figure we are used to seeing in regular market conditions. (bls.gov, US, 2013)

Labor Force Participation or the percentage of adults, sixteen years and older, seeking work or working is around 63% and has not been as low since the 1970's. The only reason why it was so low in the 1970's, Long says, is because a lot more

and 1964. Soldiers returning from WWII caused a rise in the birth rate of the United

percent of people are out of work which means 11 million Americans are looking for open

The first significant workforce composition is immigration, in the 1990s wave of immigrant workers was by far the largest in the past three decades, and contributed a larger share of the growth in the nation's labor force than at any other time since the end of World War II. Immigrants also accounted for all the growth among workers fewer than 35, which explained the drop in U.S. birthrates in the 1970s and the resulting dip in the U.S. born population in that young age group. But even among those ages 35 to 44, the youngest baby boomers, and new immigrants supplied a third of the growth in

Baby boomers are adults born in 1946-1964, and the largest demographic in America with around 76 million. They are the children born to parents who served in WWII. After WWII the increase in wages spurred the belief that they could afford many children. When in reality they could at the time, but not for long. Now, many boomers will be lower class because of mortgage debt and health care costs. Boomers are reaching their retirement age soon meaning they will depend heavily on the government

The unemployment rate in America is a huge factor with noticing on how well the labor force has been doing in the past. Overall the unemployment rate in America has been slowly decreasing in the past couple of years. “The unemployment rate hit 10 percent in October [2009], and there are good reasons to believe that by 2011, 2012, even 2014, it will have declined only a little” (Peck). It is a slow process, but hopefully in the future it will not be a problem anymore. Another statistic that should be looked at is the poverty rate in America. “The official poverty rate in 2006 was 12.3 percent, down from 12.6 percent in 2005” (U.S. Census Bureau). The poverty level has relatively remained level and has not changed drastically. The poverty

While there are expectations of a yearly gain of nearly 2.3 million net new jobs, the unemployment rate is still very high i.e. around 6.5 percent. The lower-than-expected job growth is fueled by various factors including government hiring, weather, and Obamacare. Actually, similar to December, January had a lower-than expected increase in job opportunities since only 113,000 jobs were created. However, the rate of unemployment still reduced to 6.6 percent in this month despite of the growth in labor force. The current rate of unemployment is the lowest in U.S. since the 2008 recession because more people are leaving the labor force instead of finding jobs.

During the Great Depression and World War II many Americans delayed marrying and having children because of the poor economy. The number of marriages and births soared after the war. Many older couples who had delayed having children began having them when the war ended. This increase in births among both younger and older American couples created the Baby Boom Generation. This large group of people born in the U.S. from 1946 to 1964 amounted to 76 million children. Those born during this time make up approximately 36% of today’s population (Deutsch). What impact has this had on the economy? Read on to see how the baby boom generation has affected the economy and what will happen as they retire.

The unemployment rate in the United States has improved dramatically over the last two years, from a high of 8.3% in July 2012, to a low of 6.6% in January 2014. In October of 2012, the civilian labor force increased from 578,000 to 155.6 million, labor force participation increased up to 63.8%, and total employment overall rose by 410,000! Since then, the unemployment rate has been falling at a stable rate due to a political push from Washington DC and new employment initiatives. The inflation rate over the last 2 years has been relatively stably, with a few major increases and decreases in 2012 and 2013. It reached a high of 2.3% in June of 2012, and reached a low of 1.0% at the end of 2013. The federal interest rate has remained at a constant .25% over the past few years.

“Only 24% of Baby Boomers are confident they will have enough savings to last throughout retirement, down from 36% in 2012.” (Frankel) This is the reason more Baby Boomers are working longer before retiring. At the same time the Millennials were growing up through the recession, acquired student loan debt and were entering a very competitive job market. Robin Lewis captured this reality through this quote. “This is a generation that is bigger than the boomers in population, but their wallets are smaller, and they are more into the style of life than the stuff of life.” This backs up a study conducted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch that shows “A whopping 82% of millennials are investing in a retirement savings account and 75% of the baby boom generation does so.” (Abrams) The main reason for this pattern is the Millennials are investing in retirement accounts at work many of which have matching programs and Baby Boomers are skitish of the market and losing more of thier retirement.

Labor force participation rate is a ratio in which the labor force is divided by the civilian non-institutional population 16 years of age or older. During an economic recession, unemployed workers get discouraged and stop looking for employment, dropping the participation rate drastically. Labor force participation used to be relatively low, it decreased during the 1970s 1980s, and 1990s, rising in 2000 and declining once again in late 2000 (Bullard 4). “In early 2007, 66% of Americans were in the labor force. After the recession struck, participation tumbled, falling to 64% by 2012. By September 2015 it had hit 62.4% its lowest since 1977” (“The Force Awakens”). However, throughout this year the number of employment has risen as result of increasing participation from Americans into the labor force, pushing the rate back up .6%. This means that the economy has created 215,000 net new jobs in March, decreasing unemployment from 5.1% in September 2015 to 5% in April 2016 (“The Force Awakens”).

As of February of 2016, “the unemployment rate in America was recorded at 4.9 percent, unchanged from the January rate and remaining at its lowest

“In June 2012, approximately 155,163,00 people were in the labor force (those actively employed or seeking employment). With a total U.S. working-age population of approximately 243 million individuals, the labor force participation rate currently stands at 63.8 percent. Out of those 155 million individuals in the labor force, 142,415,00 are currently employed, with unemployment hovering around 8.2 percent”.

In 2007 approximately, thirteen percent of Americans that were sixty-five years or older reported that they were still working and in 2016 this number