Press ReleaseDecember 2, 2016
New Administration Should Tackle Low Labor Force Participation Rate by Addressing Systemic Challenges Facing Job Creators
ATLANTA – Today, the Job Creators Network (JCN) highlighted that the December jobs report, released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that the low labor force participation rate is being masked by a low unemployment rate. The report finds that 178,000 jobs were created in November and the unemployment rate went to 4.6 percent from 4.9 percent last month. But that’s not the full picture.
The report also revealed a 62.7 percent labor force participation rate, which is well below the historical pre-Great Recession average of 66 percent. The gap indicates that the unemployment rate is highly influenced by people dropping out of the labor force—not necessarily revealing the true state of the job market. The real unemployment taking into account those who have dropped out of the labor market since the Great Recession is 9.5 percent.
Another area of concern is the LFPR of “prime-age” workers between the age of 25 and 54. It still hasn’t recovered from the Great Recession, which shows the fall in the LFPR isn’t driven by natural cycles of retirement or more millennials attending college. In fact, the unemployment rate including part-time and marginally attached workers is 9.3 percent.
“In order to understand the reality of the job market from today’s jobs report, you need to pay close attention to the labor force participation rate, not just the misleading unemployment rate.” said Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the Job Creators Network. “The 62.7 percent labor force participation rate indicates that the labor market still has slack and the new administration needs to address the challenges facing small businesses—such as overregulation and overtaxation—in order to fix it.”
JCN recently completed a 12,000 mile nationwide bus tour highlighting these very same problems. The campaign made almost 30 stops in 17 states and brought together nearly twenty U.S. Representatives, seven Governors, small business leaders, and community members. Together we can find solutions to help job creators grow the economy.
To schedule an interview, contact Jackson Shedelbower at Jackson.Shedelbower@
The Job Creators Network (JCN) is the voice of real job creators that has been missing from the debate on jobs and our economic crisis. JCN members talk about paychecks, not politics, helping the public and policymakers understand how to create jobs. For more information, please visit www.JobCreatorsNetwork.
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