Friday, December 03, 2010

US Employment to Population Ratio Continues Decline

Newly released employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that the US employment to population ratio declined to 58.4% in November 2010, down from 58.6% last month and 58.8% a year ago. The US employment to population ratio has been trending downwards since 2000.


Many economists believe that reporting the number employed as a percentage of the civilian population provides a more accurate description of the current state of employment than conjecturing the number of "unemployed" in a population. The US employment to population ratio reached a historical peak of 64.4% on an annual basis in 2000.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We may be watching the boomers pass through the body of the snake on this diagram. Just an observation...

Anonymous said...

I agree. Counting the number of "active job seekers" leaves out a whole group of long term unemployed who want to work but are disheartened. But then the same goes for "core inflation". The feds leave out "volatile" food and energy prices! More of the smoke and mirrors which will cause the collapse of the western financial system.

McKibbinUSA said...

PS: The BLS defines the civilian noninstitutional population and employment as follows:

The civilian noninstitutional population consists of persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 States and the District of Columbia who are not inmates of institutions (for example, penal and mental facilities and homes for the aged) and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.

Employment consists of all persons who, during the reference week (the calendar week including the twelfth day of the month), (a) did any work at all (at least 1 hour) as paid employees, worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of the family, or (b) were not working but had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad weather, childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labor-management dispute, job training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off or were seeking other jobs.

Post a Comment