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Current Events => Economics => Topic started by: Ptarmigan on August 15, 2022, 08:47:07 PM

Title: American workforce continues to shrink, falls 400k since March after nearly hitt
Post by: Ptarmigan on August 15, 2022, 08:47:07 PM
American workforce continues to shrink, falls 400k since March after nearly hitting prepandemic levels
https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/american-workforce-continues-shrink-falls-400k-since-march-nearly-hitting-prepandemic-levels

Quote
The number of workers in the U.S. has continued to shrink as businesses struggle to find employees for their openings.

"The hope for many to achieve a soft landing is that you meet in the middle, with demand cooling off and labor supply picking up, and we reach a much healthier equilibrium between the two," Michael Pugliese, an economist at Wells Fargo, told the Wall Street Journal Sunday. "But if labor supply flatlines or keeps falling, you need to bring demand down even more in order to cool off wage growth."

According to Labor Department data, the number of workers in the U.S. has fallen 400,000 since March, a troubling sign after the number of workers approached prepandemic levels earlier this year. The total labor force is now about 600,000 smaller than it was in early 2020, right before widespread COVID-19 restrictions plunged the economy into a recession.

The labor shortage has raised fears that the economy will not achieve the "soft landing" many hoped for as restrictions have been lifted, with some economists saying the imbalance between labor supply and demand represents the largest threat to the U.S. economy.

Labor participation has dropped.

Labor Force Participation Rate
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART
Title: Re: American workforce continues to shrink, falls 400k since March after nearly hitt
Post by: Eupher on August 16, 2022, 04:47:09 AM
I'm in that metric. Deliberately avoided work opportunities (or at least interviewing) over the past 6 months because I just can't stomach the woke bullshit -- the pronouns, the virtue signaling, the whole charade. Screw 'em. I'm retired now.

 :tongue: