How Much More Can the Labor Force Grow?

[applegrove]

How Much More Can the Labor Force Grow?

by Neil Irwin at the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/upshot/americans-are-joining-the-work-force-at-the-fastest-rate-in-16-years.html?_r=0

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WASHINGTON — The immediate headlines out of the latest jobs numbers — that growth was solid and the unemployment rate unchanged in February — would seem to be not terribly exciting. But there’s some great news beneath the surface: Americans are returning to the work force in the largest numbers in many years.

The American work force, according to the Labor Department’s survey of households, rose by a whopping 555,000 people in February. Over the last three months, that number totals 1.52 million, the highest it has been in 16 years. In other words, this winter a lot more people have been either working or actively looking for work.

That’s good. The proportion of Americans in the labor force plummeted during the 2008 recession and its aftermath. That was partly because of demographic forces, like baby boomers retiring.


It was also caused by millions of Americans who saw little opportunity and became disengaged from the workplace, their incomes suffering, their skills atrophying and the nation’s economic potential diminishing in the process.




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