Quote:
Originally Posted by zap
Participation rate is still not very good.
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<rant>
"Labor Force Participation Rate" gets tossed around way too often (usually with political overtones) and very few people even know how it is calculated. Lower is not necessarily bad, higher not necessarily good.
Two examples:
1) If old people are living longer in retirement, labor force participation rate goes down (ceteris paribus) as retirees (not in an assisted living facility) count as part of the labor force but aren't participating. Is that a good or bad thing?
2) If more young people are in school, labor force participation rate goes down (again, ceteris paribus) as students (16 and over) count as part of the labor force but aren't participating. Is that a good or bad thing?
Lies, damn lies, statistics...
</rant>