"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Friday, April 6, 2012

Unemployment to Population -- All You Need to Know.

The March unemployment rate dropped marginally today, from 8.3% to 8.2%, even though only 120,000 new jobs were created, not enough to keep up with population growth.   So what gives?   Well, as you might expect, the reason for the drop is solely due to people leaving the work force.  

As I've said before, forget about the nominal unemployment rate.   That rate is wholly dependent on the denominator you choose -- in that case, the number of people who are actually choosing to be in the work force, i.e., who either are employed or unemployed and actively looking for work.   What really matters is the ratio of employed people to all people.   And that isn't improving much at all, as the following graph shows:


That graph is all you need to know.  

Obama has to go.  

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