People Dropping out of the Workforce at Alarming Rate

[Vol423]

"According to this morning's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for August fell to 8.1% compared to 8.3% in July. If you like your news positive and grossly oversimplified stop reading now; the details on the report are hideous.



Consider:

• Nonfarm Payroll Employment rose by 96k compared to estimates of 125k - 130k and a far cry from the average growth of 139k in 2012. Last year the average monthly gain was 153k.
• July's NFP number was revised lower from 163k to 141k.
• The greatest gains came from the food services and drinking sector. In other words, from waiting tables or bartending. These are some of the most brutal, lowest paying jobs extant.
• The labor force participation rate fell to 63.5%, the lowest read in over 30 years. When this number goes down so does the stated unemployment rate. To get to 8.1% unemployment, 368,000 Americans had to drop out of the labor force.

No matter what you hear or read elsewhere, America's job picture is getting worse. Much, much worse. My Breakout co-host Matt Nesto and I discuss the report in the attached clip.

Starting with the participation rate, Nesto notes that "almost 400,000 people dropped out, just gave up" looking for work in August. For each one-tenth of one percent improvement in the unemployment rate, 184,000 Americans had to become quitters.

Quitting could mean going on disability, going into the grey market (read: getting paid cash for odd jobs), doing something illicit, or begging. Whatever they're doing instead of working or looking for legitimate jobs, 368,000 Americans gave up on participating in the economy in August alone.

What would it take to make you just give up entirely? That's what hundreds of thousands of your fellow Americans went through last month. Think about that if anyone tries to tell you a drop in the headline rate is anything but more evidence of an ongoing national disgrace."

Why a Drop in the Unemployment Rate Is Tragic | Breakout - Yahoo! Finance

There was a much higher percentage of stay-at-home moms (by choice) 30 years ago than there are now. That figure is abysmal.

 

[Cartervol]

According to the liberal biased media. People don't seem to care. Obama is cool and hip. Romney is evil, white and stiff. Forward Comrades.

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

Are there enough jobs for everyone, and people are simply looking in the wrong place? Or, are there more people than available jobs? What do you think is the real problem?

 

[OldandStillaVol]

Are there enough jobs for everyone, and people are simply looking in the wrong place? Or, are there more people than available jobs? What do you think is the real problem?

I am not a jobs expert but at least some of the problem is a misalignment of people's skills and what some business' demands are now. Where I work, we have been trying to hire people with computer tech and data mining skills to help with data analysis. Can't find qualified folks even though the location is nice and the salary is competitive.

 

[82_VOL_83]

Are there enough jobs for everyone, and people are simply looking in the wrong place? Or, are there more people than available jobs? What do you think is the real problem?

There seem to be plenty of jobs if you want to wait tables and bartend. Kinda what the OP said. I have a neighbor that was a VP at Goodies when they closed in 09 or 08. He is slinging lettuce at Kroger's. However, when EVERYONE is waiting tables and bartending, it is kinda like socialism (you know, running out of other peoples money to spend?).....there is only so much discretionary money out there, when that is gone, you will see people lose these jobs also.

 

[Gramps]

Are there enough jobs for everyone, and people are simply looking in the wrong place? Or, are there more people than available jobs? What do you think is the real problem?

The vast number of jobs available are lower paying jobs.
People can stay home draw UE, food stamps etc and make more money per week than a large number of these jobs pay.

People that have lost their mfg jobs are going to have to go back to school and get trained for the jobs of the 21th century. The old jobs are not coming back in big numbers, people are going to have to be willing to enter a different line of work. If they don't retrain, they will be stuck in the low paying jobs .

I think the government need an unemployed to work program instead of keep extending UE benefits. Some will say that is spending more money , is it?

We could require people attend college or some type of trade school with the govt help on titution for up to 2 years as long as they are in school with maybe 30 days after they get their certificates degree etc to find work then they are on their own, no more govt benefits.

There are several certificate programs now that require 1 year or less to complete. I rather be paying to retrain than paying to sit at home and continue drawing ue with no end in sight.... just my 2cents.

 

[utvolpj]

why work when the govt will send you the same amount for 2yrs of sitting on your ass?

 

[mreed90]

Does labor force participation take into account people like students, retirees, kids, disabled and others of the sort that don't work for legitimate reasons? I have to wonder if any president or government could fix this really. I know they could help but I think Americans as a whole are getting kind of lazy. I know for a fact there are whole blocks in my hometown where everyone is drawing a check (and is on pills or worse). I'm starting to think anti-parasite laws like the USSR had need to be enacted, if you can work and refuse the government makes you work or you have to join the military. Of course there has to be limits but able bodied people have no excuse to refuse to work. I know that is extreme and a little communist but things have to change or it is only going to get worse.

 

[VolsNSkinsFan]

No it doesn't and we need wage inflation to fix that, but now we have wage deflation

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

Does labor force participation take into account people like students, retirees, kids, disabled and others of the sort that don't work for legitimate reasons? I have to wonder if any president or government could fix this really. I know they could help but I think Americans as a whole are getting kind of lazy. I know for a fact there are whole blocks in my hometown where everyone is drawing a check (and is on pills or worse). I'm starting to think anti-parasite laws like the USSR had need to be enacted, if you can work and refuse the ygovernment makes you work or you have to join the military. Of course there has to be limits but able bodied people have no excuse to refuse to work. I know that is extreme and a little communist but things have to change or it is only going to get worse.

Extreme change seems fairly neccessary. This current situation ain't working very well. Retraining (or for most, training in the first damn place) is the heart and soul of an American recovery imo. To many adults who are not trained or educated in any useful fields. Ambition and belief/hope are sorely lacking as well. People need something to get moving and out of the funk they are stuck in.

 

[NEO]

There are alot of jobs out there that pay about eight to twelve an hour that no one wants.

I drive by a panda evrryday that is begging for help. The ue and welfare laws are killing the work force. And sorry people there are a lot of people who are minimum wage workers and never more.

 

[DinkinFlicka]

There seem to be plenty of jobs if you want to wait tables and bartend. Kinda what the OP said. I have a neighbor that was a VP at Goodies when they closed in 09 or 08. He is slinging lettuce at Kroger's. However, when EVERYONE is waiting tables and bartending, it is kinda like socialism (you know, running out of other peoples money to spend?).....there is only so much discretionary money out there, when that is gone, you will see people lose these jobs also.

Spoken like a true blue stiffer!

 

[Gramps]

There are alot of jobs out there that pay about eight to twelve an hour that no one wants.
I drive by a panda evrryday that is begging for help. The ue and welfare laws are killing the work force. And sorry people there are a lot of people who are minimum wage workers and never more.

If someone is laid off ,with two children thay can make about that ( $8-10) sitting on their arse drawing UE, food stamps etc.

There are way too many people that think the world owes them a living. The government money should be a helping hand to get people back on their feet. The govt needs to stop or at the minimum lower the amount of benefits one can receive after 6 months-1 year.

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

Benefits are good immediate help. But what is being done about why so many people need help in the first place?

 

[PKT_VOL]

Benefits are good immediate help. But what is being done about why so many people need help in the first place?

What would you do if you were the POTUS?

 

[dukes_of_maggard]

What would you do if you were the POTUS?

Try to parlay that to an interview at Goldman

 

[PKT_VOL]

Try to parlay that to an interview at Goldman

Something simple and general will suffice for this forum.

 

[BenGrimm]

The vast number of jobs available are lower paying jobs.
People can stay home draw UE, food stamps etc and make more money per week than a large number of these jobs pay.

People that have lost their mfg jobs are going to have to go back to school and get trained for the jobs of the 21th century. The old jobs are not coming back in big numbers, people are going to have to be willing to enter a different line of work. If they don't retrain, they will be stuck in the low paying jobs .

I think the government need an unemployed to work program instead of keep extending UE benefits. Some will say that is spending more money , is it?

We could require people attend college or some type of trade school with the govt help on titution for up to 2 years as long as they are in school with maybe 30 days after they get their certificates degree etc to find work then they are on their own, no more govt benefits.

There are several certificate programs now that require 1 year or less to complete. I rather be paying to retrain than paying to sit at home and continue drawing ue with no end in sight.... just my 2cents.

I cancer in board with this idea. There are tons of vacant jobs out there because companies can't find people with the skills required.

The only way manufacturing is going to come back is if Americans are willing to pay a little more for their consumer junk at Walmart. Low prices are ingrained in our culture. Meanwhile we ***** about how everything is made in China.

 

[gsvol]

According to the liberal biased media. People don't seem to care. Obama is cool and hip. Romney is evil, white and stiff. Forward Comrades.

Solzhenitsyn when adressing Harvard said if America ever fell, it would be for two reasons; the unaccountability of the media and the apathy of the citizens.

Obama promised if we gave him a trillion dollars for a stimulus bill then the unemployment would not go above 8%, it hasn't been below 8% for 42 straight months.

You have to go back to the 1930s to find a parrallel.

He didn't spend that money to restore the economy, he used that money to attempt to transform America into a socialist nation.

Are there enough jobs for everyone, and people are simply looking in the wrong place? Or, are there more people than available jobs? What do you think is the real problem?

The Real Problem?

If we had the same sort of results under Obama that we had under the Reagan recovery, 16 million more Americas would have good paying jobs today.

 

[etmVol]

There was not one cause just as there is no one remedy. The economic issues this country faces cannot and will not be solved quickly, by a single change/program, or by throwing money at it and hoping for the best. It will take a massive paradigm shift from the grassroots to the very top.

At this point, our government is well beyond bloated. Massive cuts are needed, and not in the sectors that generally get cut. I have not readied a 10 point plan detailing exactly how those cuts should be implemented, but I think anyone with a pulse can see that there is way too much (wasteful) spending.

The tax system needs a complete overhaul. Regardless of how much the upper class is taxed, how can the middle/lower class be expected to spend enough to keep the economy stimulated when they have no money left after taxes because they have massive student loan debt and are trying to put back everything else for retirement since it is obvious social security will be gone in the next 10 or 15 years?

The education in this country is lacking, and I don't mean the percentage of the population with a college degree. My mother is an elementary school teacher, and she continues to surprise me with her stories of the education system and those who are being socially promoted through it. Literacy rates are appalling, and those that can read, are generally doing so on a much lower skill level than appropriate. I do agree that a child's parents should play a big role in educating that child, but when so many parents are out of the picture or severely under educated, schools are having to do more and more. I have a few suggestions to improve the education system, but I will not go into those in this post - just that a radical change to the system is sorely needed.

With all that said, what is the biggest change that we MUST have? Voters. Until the voters stop voting for candidates they know nothing about just because they have a D or R before their names on the ballot, our country will continue to spiral into inevitable oblivion. I do believe that the influx of young, Internet savvy voters will help this cause, but as we saw in 2008, they are just as gullible when presented with catchy phrases and well written speeches....

Unless some things change, I am afraid there will soon be a revolution of massive scale; and unless the government unleashes the military on its own citizens, the 'United States of America' as we know it will fall within the next 50 years.

 

[PKT_VOL]

All that is nice, but we have got to have cultural change. That is going to be the heart of any real change.