The Truth About Unemployment – April 2014

Enough already about the recent, “great news” on the newly durable Obama recovery.

Do you want to know why the unemployment rate just dropped to 6.3 percent, but only 28 percent of Americans believe the country is going in the right direction?

I have assembled one chart – with data taken directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)comparing the jobs’ numbers for the Reagan presidency with those of the Obama presidency. You are welcome to go to the site yourself and see the data just as I have reproduced it here.

No text, no twists, no magic asterisks.

Just the numbers that explain the problem is vivid detail.

 

Year
and
month

Civilian
noninsti-
tutional population

Civilian    labor force

Not
in
labor
force

Number

Percent
of
population

Employed

Unemployed

Number

Percent
of
population

Number

Percent
of
labor
force

1981

170,130

108,670

63.9

100,397

59.0

8,273

7.6

61,460

1982

172,271

110,204

64.0

99,526

57.8

10,678

9.7

62,067

1983

174,215

111,550

64.0

100,834

57.9

10,717

9.6

62,665

1984

176,383

113,544

64.4

105,005

59.5

8,539

7.5

62,839

1985

178,206

115,461

64.8

107,150

60.1

8,312

7.2

62,744

1986

180,587

117,834

65.3

109,597

60.7

8,237

7.0

62,752

1987

182,753

119,865

65.6

112,440

61.5

7,425

6.2

62,888

1988

184,613

121,669

65.9

114,968

62.3

6,701

5.5

62,944

1989

186,393

123,869

66.5

117,342

63.0

6,528

5.3

62,523

 

+16,263

+15,199

+2.6

+16,945

+4.0

-1,745

-2.3 (-4.4 off peak)

+1,063

 
2009

235,801

154,142

65.4

139,877

59.3

14,265

9.3

81,659

2010

237,830

153,889

64.7

139,064

58.5

14,825

9.6

83,941

2011

239,618

153,617

64.1

139,869

58.4

13,747

8.9

86,001

2012

243,284

154,975

63.7

142,469

58.6

12,506

8.1

88,310

2013

245,679

155,389

63.2

143,929

58.6

11,460

7.4

90,290

2014
Jan

246,915

155,460

63.0

145,224

58.8

10,236

6.6

91,455

Feb

247,085

155,724

63.0

145,266

58.8

10,459

6.7

91,361

March

247,258

156,227

63.2

145,742

58.9

10,486

6.7

91,030

April

247,439

155,421

62.8

145,669

58.9

9,753

6.3

92,018

 

+11,638

+1,279

-2.6

+5,782

-0.4

-4,512

-3.0

+10,359

FACT: between 1981 and 1989, Ronald Reagan’s economic recovery created nearly 17 million new jobs.

FACT: between 1981 and 1989,  the non-institutional civilian population increased by 16 million people. 94 percent of those citizens became part of the labor force, expanding the labor pool.

FACT: between 1981 and 1989, the percentage of Americans with a job jumped from 59 percent to 63 percent, a new record.

FACT: the 5.3 percent unemployment rate in 1989, 4.4 percent off the recession highs of 1982, was the lowest rate recorded in nearly two decades (1970).

——————————————-

FACT: since 2009, the non-institutional civilian population has increased by 11.6 million. However, just 10 percent of those citizens have entered the labor force.

FACT: since 2009 the economy has created 5.7 million new jobs. However, adjusted for population, the pool of Americans with jobs has actually dropped. At this point in the Reagan presidency, the economy had created 62 percent more jobs that the Obama economy (9.2 million 1986).

FACT: since 2009, the number of Americans not in the labor force has increased by 10.4 million, to 91 million. The record for largest number of Americans not in the labor force is held by the Obama administration for 2013 and 2014 – more than 30 months after the Great Recession ended.

The current jobs picture is many things.  A sign of a robust American economic recovery is not one of them.