A major complaint about economic growth during the previous administration was that much of the population did not participate in that recovery.
With the strong jobs report that came out yesterday showing an unemployment rate that fell to its lowest in over 50 years, it is indeed reason to celebrate but the question is have things changed much in the late stage of this recovery?
Ironically the labor force participation rate seems to be flat at 63% with seasonal swings up and down. It has centered around 63% since 2013.
Despite the strong job growth and the dip in the unemployment rate, it looks like we lost those people permanently from the workforce. And Hourly wage gains seem trivial as well.
Where are those people? Who are those people?
Part of the answer seems to be Youth participation in the workforce – aged between 16 and 19. Here is an updated chart that shows the split by Age.
It appears many are opting to go to college rather than work even part time…
Maybe it is a good trend started by the 2009 recession and hope this is for the better. Educational investment in America for the new generation and new century!
However, this still does not explain why the wage gains are trivial. The average hourly wages for Youth should be much smaller than the average so one will expect a substantial gain in the average gain…
