"U.S. economy adds 214,000 in October; unemployment rate sinks to 5.8 percent" and a LFR rant.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

4. "Why many aren't celebrating low US unemployment"

By JOSH BOAK
AP Economics Writer November 8, 2014 Updated 14 minutes ago

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Consider wages. Workers' pay usually outpaces inflation once the unemployment rate dips beneath 6 percent. That's because when fewer people need to look for jobs, employers must raise pay to attract the most desirable among them.

Even with 5.8 percent unemployment and even though more than five years have passed since the Great Recession officially ended, this phenomenon has yet to take hold. Most workers' pay is barely keeping up with historically low inflation.

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Look, too, at the percentage of adults either working or searching for work. It's a measure called labor force participation. The government counts people without jobs as unemployed only if they're seeking work. If more people stop looking, labor force participation falls.

At 62.8 percent, the U.S. participation rate hasn't budged over the past 12 months. And it's down a sharp 3.6 percentage points from 2007. That means a lower proportion of Americans are engaged in the job market and benefiting from the economic upswing.

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Since 2007, the participation rate has fallen disproportionately in three critical states where Democratic incumbents lost Tuesday, costing their party control of the Senate: Arkansas (-5.9 percentage points), Colorado (-5.3 points) and North Carolina (-4.7 points), each of which will now be represented in the Senate by a Republican.

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More: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/11/08/4304510_why-many-arent-celebrating-low.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1#storylink=cpy

"It's the economy, stupid."