February Jobs Report: JCN Reveals Real Unemployment Rate

(ATLANTA, GA) – Today, the Job Creators Network (JCN) highlighted that the 4.9 percent unemployment rate released today as part of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ February jobs report is largely driven by the historically low labor force participation rate of 62.9 percent. This morning’s release of the jobs report also showed that 242,000 jobs had been created.

JCN points out that if the labor force participation rate remained at prerecession levels of 66.0 percent, then the current unemployment rate would be 9.4 percent. This suggests that the decline in the topline unemployment rate is largely a factor of people dropping out of the labor force altogether.

“To get an accurate picture of the labor market, the unprecedented decline in the labor force participation rate must be considered,” said Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the Job Creators Network. “Taking those who have dropped out of the labor force altogether into account, the real unemployment rate is 9.4 percent, clouding the popular narrative that the labor market is back on track.”

JCN produced a short video explaining the difference between the unemployment rate and the labor force participation rate. View it here.