Labor Market Decline Continues
The labor force participation rate is percentage of working age adults who “participate” in the labor force, either by holding a job or by actively searching for a job nearly every week. As the chart shows, the rate has declined dramatically since the end of the recession, during the so-called “recovery.”
The Obama Administration reported an unemployment rate of 5.5% in March. But, if the participation rate were the same as it was in 2009 when the recession ended the March unemployment rate would have been 9.7%
