And now we know why the unemployment rate fell in June.

Setting aside COVID, this is the worst in 50 years.

Quote:On the surface, a June drop in the unemployment rate helped provide some upside to what was an otherwise downbeat jobs report — but it was for all the wrong reasons.

That’s because the decline in the jobless level to 4.2%, the lowest in a year, came largely from an exodus of workers from the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data Thursday.

In fact, the measure of the working-age population either employed or looking for a job slid to 61.5%, the lowest since March 2021. Excluding the Covid-era jobs market, it was the lowest labor force participation rate in exactly 50 years.

In June alone, the labor force, a measure of those either employed or not employed and looking for work, plummeted by 720,000. Similarly, the rolls of those counted as not in the labor force, a group that includes the unemployed and those not looking for work, jumped by 832,000.

And while the establishment survey, which counts jobs filled, showed growth for the month of 57,000, the survey of households, which counts the actual level of those working, tumbled by 507,000.

On a year-over-year basis, the labor force is down by just over 1 million, while the level of the employed also has fallen by 1.06 million and the ranks of the unemployed have risen by 40,000. The employment-to-population ratio slipped to 59% in June, the lowest since October 2021.

Job seekers giving up: Labor force participation rate falls to lowest in 50 years, outside of Covid era

lulz

That is fine....

1 - There are jobs out there, just not "desired jobs"
2 - You are not allowed ow to just collect off the system for free
3 - the combination #1 and #2 will eventually "return" people to participating


Choosing to not work is not the problem, that is a choice. But supporting your life/lifestyle should not then become everyone else's problem if you choose to not support it on your own.....

(07-07-2026 09:59 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  That is fine....

1 - There are jobs out there, just not "desired jobs"
2 - You are not allowed ow to just collect off the system for free
3 - the combination #1 and #2 will eventually "return" people to participating


Choosing to not work is not the problem, that is a choice. But supporting your life/lifestyle should not then become everyone else's problem if you choose to not support it on your own.....

Interesting that you didn't seem to contemplate corporate America trimming workforce as they shift to AI and robotics.

From Claude:

Quote:Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has been tracking this closely. AI was cited in 38,579 U.S. job cuts in May 2026, or 40% of all layoffs that month — the highest monthly total Challenger has recorded since it began tracking AI as a reason in 2023. AI has led all reasons for layoffs for four straight months, from March through June 2026, and through June, AI has been cited in 101,743 U.S. job cuts — nearly double the 54,836 attributed to it in all of 2025.

(07-07-2026 10:03 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(07-07-2026 09:59 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  That is fine....

1 - There are jobs out there, just not "desired jobs"
2 - You are not allowed ow to just collect off the system for free
3 - the combination #1 and #2 will eventually "return" people to participating


Choosing to not work is not the problem, that is a choice. But supporting your life/lifestyle should not then become everyone else's problem if you choose to not support it on your own.....

Interesting that you didn't seem to contemplate corporate America trimming workforce as they shift to AI and robotics.

From Claude:

Quote:Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has been tracking this closely. AI was cited in 38,579 U.S. job cuts in May 2026, or 40% of all layoffs that month — the highest monthly total Challenger has recorded since it began tracking AI as a reason in 2023. AI has led all reasons for layoffs for four straight months, from March through June 2026, and through June, AI has been cited in 101,743 U.S. job cuts — nearly double the 54,836 attributed to it in all of 2025.

The country still "added" jobs. If we were/are losing 10's of thousands of jobs per month AND participation was plummeting, that is a whole different story.

Right now (at least) jobs are still being added. The quality of those jobs is the question. The bigger problem that AI is creating is the overall dumbing down of jobs. Less coding or building things, and more "Do you want Fries with that" jobs.


That is not a Trump thing either....

(07-07-2026 11:00 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  

(07-07-2026 10:03 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(07-07-2026 09:59 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  That is fine....

1 - There are jobs out there, just not "desired jobs"
2 - You are not allowed ow to just collect off the system for free
3 - the combination #1 and #2 will eventually "return" people to participating


Choosing to not work is not the problem, that is a choice. But supporting your life/lifestyle should not then become everyone else's problem if you choose to not support it on your own.....

Interesting that you didn't seem to contemplate corporate America trimming workforce as they shift to AI and robotics.

From Claude:

Quote:Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has been tracking this closely. AI was cited in 38,579 U.S. job cuts in May 2026, or 40% of all layoffs that month — the highest monthly total Challenger has recorded since it began tracking AI as a reason in 2023. AI has led all reasons for layoffs for four straight months, from March through June 2026, and through June, AI has been cited in 101,743 U.S. job cuts — nearly double the 54,836 attributed to it in all of 2025.

The country still "added" jobs. If we were/are losing 10's of thousands of jobs per month AND participation was plummeting, that is a whole different story.

Right now (at least) jobs are still being added. The quality of those jobs is the question. The bigger problem that AI is creating is the overall dumbing down of jobs. Less coding or building things, and more "Do you want Fries with that" jobs.


That is not a Trump thing either....

You're the first one who brought up trump here.

One time I found a thread on reddit where leftys were talking about what they would do in their communist utopia. The jobs were ridiculous like reading tarot cards and painting rocks. Lack of labor participation is simply because it is too easy to survive without working. The will to live is a powerful thing, even more powerful than a drug addict's ability to make $1,000 a day to support their habbit. An empty stomach would have lefty busting ass and complaining about taxes in a hurry.

I have a friend who just was alerted she'll be laid off in January. Closing her factory, some of it moving to other factories they own in the states and some of it moving to Mexico. Guessing a lot of the jobs are going to be replaced by more advanced machines that require fewer people to operate.

(07-07-2026 11:00 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  

(07-07-2026 10:03 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(07-07-2026 09:59 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  That is fine....

1 - There are jobs out there, just not "desired jobs"
2 - You are not allowed ow to just collect off the system for free
3 - the combination #1 and #2 will eventually "return" people to participating


Choosing to not work is not the problem, that is a choice. But supporting your life/lifestyle should not then become everyone else's problem if you choose to not support it on your own.....

Interesting that you didn't seem to contemplate corporate America trimming workforce as they shift to AI and robotics.

From Claude:

Quote:Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has been tracking this closely. AI was cited in 38,579 U.S. job cuts in May 2026, or 40% of all layoffs that month — the highest monthly total Challenger has recorded since it began tracking AI as a reason in 2023. AI has led all reasons for layoffs for four straight months, from March through June 2026, and through June, AI has been cited in 101,743 U.S. job cuts — nearly double the 54,836 attributed to it in all of 2025.

The country still "added" jobs. If we were/are losing 10's of thousands of jobs per month AND participation was plummeting, that is a whole different story.

Right now (at least) jobs are still being added. The quality of those jobs is the question. The bigger problem that AI is creating is the overall dumbing down of jobs. Less coding or building things, and more "Do you want Fries with that" jobs.


That is not a Trump thing either....

A real issue is the slow erosion of full time jobs. Most of the jobs being added are part time jobs and the majority of the jobs going away are full time jobs. This trend has existed for quite some time. I suspect that work force participation is likely to trend down for a while as the boomer generation retires. Of course, to some extent the boomer retirement effect is softened as quite a few boomers never accrued enough savings or benefits to allow them to completely exit the workforce. So somewhere around 40-50 percent of boomers will continue working. Some will have to continue working until they die. There also will be a smaller group of boomers who will continue to work simply by choice. Point is—it’s not like the entire boomer generation will exit stage left the moment they hit full retirement age.

(07-07-2026 09:40 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  And now we know why the unemployment rate fell in June.

Setting aside COVID, this is the worst in 50 years.

Quote:On the surface, a June drop in the unemployment rate helped provide some upside to what was an otherwise downbeat jobs report — but it was for all the wrong reasons.

That’s because the decline in the jobless level to 4.2%, the lowest in a year, came largely from an exodus of workers from the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data Thursday.

In fact, the measure of the working-age population either employed or looking for a job slid to 61.5%, the lowest since March 2021. Excluding the Covid-era jobs market, it was the lowest labor force participation rate in exactly 50 years.

In June alone, the labor force, a measure of those either employed or not employed and looking for work, plummeted by 720,000. Similarly, the rolls of those counted as not in the labor force, a group that includes the unemployed and those not looking for work, jumped by 832,000.

And while the establishment survey, which counts jobs filled, showed growth for the month of 57,000, the survey of households, which counts the actual level of those working, tumbled by 507,000.

On a year-over-year basis, the labor force is down by just over 1 million, while the level of the employed also has fallen by 1.06 million and the ranks of the unemployed have risen by 40,000. The employment-to-population ratio slipped to 59% in June, the lowest since October 2021.

Job seekers giving up: Labor force participation rate falls to lowest in 50 years, outside of Covid era

Are you really this clueless? Is this a clown act ?

How many times have I told you with statistics people in this country don’t work. I haven’t checked lately but during the Biden Administration years there were less folks in the workforce than in the year 2000

I’m sure our population has dropped since 2000…..NOT

Get with the program and stop with the head in the sand unless it’s Trump or a politician with an R beside his/her name.

Old news for anyone with a lick of common sense