Where are the Missing Five Million Workers?

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/167951/were-are-missing-five-million-workers

"Where have all the workers gone?" David Wessel of the Wall St. Journal wondered about the labor force this week:

“In the past two years, the number of people in the U.S. who are older than 16 (and not in the military or prison) has grown by 5.4 million. The number of people working or looking for work hasn't grown at all.”

So, where have all the workers gone? Have they retired, suspended their labors temporarily, or are they languishing on public assistance? Asks Wessel.

There are some other possibilities. Since the crash of 2008 there’s no question that millions of Americans have indeed stopped looking for a job. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not working. Look around, it’s much more likely that the officially “unemployed” are busy, doing their best to make ends meet in whatever ways they can. Sex-work drugs and crime spring to mind, but the underground or “shadow” economy includes all sorts of off-the-books toil. From baby-sitting, bartering, mending, kitchen-garden farming, and selling goods in a yard sale, all sorts of people -- from the tamale seller on your corner, to the dancer who teachers yoga – are all contributing to the underground economy along with “employed” who pay them for their wares.

The “underground” is always with us. For better and often for worse, it’s how marginalized populations tend to survive —often not very well. (Think of the old, the young, the formerly incarcerated, or foreign.) In recessions – surprise, surprise– “irregular” employment grows. Consider recent stories from Greece, about wageless public “workers” swopping skills, and trading food for teaching. Austrian economist, Friedrich Schneider, an expert in underground economies, has documentd a surge in shadow economy activity in 2009 and ’10 in Europe. University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Edgar Feige has been doing his best to follow what’s happened here.

[marmar]

1. k/r

[JayhawkSD]

2. I found about one million of them.

They are standing on street corners in San Diego with signs reading, "No work, need money."

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. that would be me

I care for Gram for room and board, I bake to order for a few people, 20 tomato starts will be ready to sell by next week.
When Gram passes away, we'll basically be having garage sales every weekend till the house is cleaned out, setting up a true green house for year round food and plants to sell, expanding the baking.

I'm nearing 45, out of the 'work force' for close to 5 years now. My chances of being fully 'employed' again are pretty damn slim.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Been there, for 8 years, I remember the constant anxiety.

Got caught up in the deep recession of late '70's, did not enter the official job market again for 7 years, and had to move across the country to find a job.

At least back then there was some "recovery" available at the end of the struggle.

FWIW..a long time friend of mine has supported herself since 1981 by starting then expanding a garden,
specializing at first in garlic, then jams, jellies, homemade dog biscuits, even baking bread.
Every year she was able to depend more on her organic garden, as word of mouth spread.
She is still at it today.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. A lot of is retirement

The WWII Baby Boom is retiring. In addition, because of the Great Recession, a lot of people have retired before they planned to.

[kenny blankenship]

6. Actually old people are growing in the workforce - from staying in longer

-of necessity. 55 year olds and up have experienced a slight increase in their participation in the workforce. ( +.1%)
The losses have been concentrated in the 16-54 age segment- which covers a lot of ground, but doesn't include traditional 65 year olds being put out to pasture. In fact, the younger you are, the more likely you are to have been disappeared.

http://danielamerman.com/articles/2012/WorkC.html

On a percentage basis, the largest number of people "defined out of the workforce" by the government were 16-19 year olds. In 2007, 41.3% of teens were counted for employment and unemployment purposes, but by January of 2012, it turned out that only 30.8% were in the labor force, a sharp reduction of 10.5%. So 1.8 million teens were dropped from the labor force by definition, so they no longer existed for unemployment statistics purposes, and what every one of those teens had in common was that they didn't have jobs.

The next biggest percentage change was among 20-24 year olds, who had an abrupt decline of 4.6% in their workforce participation. For some reason known only to the government, one million 20-24 years olds just lost all interest in work, and could be removed from the unemployment calculations.

In the largest age bracket, those 25-54 year olds in their prime working years, there was another mysterious participation rate decline of 1.5%. While much smaller than the percentage declines with the younger workers, for the simple reason that there are so many 25-54 year olds (124 million), the greatest number of jobless people went missing - 1.9 million - from the unemployment calculations in what is usually the very heart of the labor force.

The 55+ age group actually saw minor increases in their workforce participation rates, with 55-64 year olds experiencing a 0.1% rise, and those 65 and up seeing a full 2.0% rise. This change in behavior can be relatively easily explained by what has happened to retirement account values, as well as the currently very low level of interest rates, which slashes retirement income levels for many potential retirees who have followed the conventional retirement planning advice.

[DavidDvorkin]

7. They're growing in the workforce because of the demographic bulge

and not being in a position to retire.

At the same time, thanks to that same bulge, retirement numbers are up.

... Or maybe not. I know I read numbers to that effect, but now I can't find anything like that. And maybe the opposite: http://www.thedoctorweighsin.com/unretired-the-number-of-americans-planning-to-retire-at-67-is-plummeting/

[kenny blankenship]

5. Yes We CAN ! (disappear the unemployed)

Government stats are next to meaningless. The ones used for headlines, like U3 and CPI, are complete fabrications molded from bullshit and straw by political requirements and far removed from any reality.

[Herlong]

9. Statistics from this link: Why not brag? JOBS PER PRESIDENT

clarenceswinney


Collapse
Why not brag? JOBS PER PRESIDENT
per year
Clinton--2,900,000
Carter----2,600,000
LBJ------2,300,000
Reagan--2,000,000
Nixon----1,700,000
JFK-------1,200,000
Truman---1,100,000
Ford---------745,000
Bush I-------625,000
IKE----------438,000
Bush II------375,000

Democrats = 10.100,000
Republican = 5.883,000


Post Script:

You are never too old to learn new skills

When the current job market it not working for you

Learn new skills.

The good news is always, at your new job, the old skills will work for you as well.

Bottom line.

Never Give Up.

Herlong.