Record 93,770,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Matches 38-Year Low

A record 93,770,000 Americans were not in the American labor force last month, and the labor force participation rate remained at 62.6 percent, exactly where it was in June -- a 38-year low, the Labor Department reported on Friday.


In 1975, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping such records, 58,627,000 Americans were not in the labor force, and the number has grown steadily since then, breaking the 80-million mark at the end of George W. Bush's presidency; and the 90-million mark in July 2013, during Barack Obama's second term. The number of Americans not in the labor force has continued to rise since then.


Read more at CNS News Read More......

Almost 1/3 of US workers now need a permission slip from the government to work

University of Minnesota public affairs professor Morris Kleiner has written extensively on the topic of occupational licensing and has been featured before on CD here and here, and by Jimmy P here. Among his key findings: 1. Occupational licensing drives up costs to consumers. Licensed workers earn 15% more on average than their unlicensed counterparts in other states. Across the U.S. economy, occupational licensing adds at least $116 billion a year to the cost of services. 2. For several occupations that are regulated in some states but not others (e.g. librarians, nutritionists and respiratory therapists), employment growth for those professions was about 20% greater in the unregulated states between 1990 and 2000 than the regulated states.

Read more at the American Enterprise Institute Read More......