People Not In Labor Force Soar To Record 91.8 Million; Participation Rate Plunges To 1978 Levels
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/10/2014 08:48 -0500
Curious why despite the huge miss in payrolls the unemployment rate tumbled from 7.0% to 6.7%? The reason is because in December the civilian labor force did what it usually does in the New Normal: it dropped from 155.3 million to 154.9 million, which means the labor participation rate just dropped to a fresh 35 year low, hitting levels not seen since 1978, at 62.8% down from 63.0%.