Ein Hinweis auf die Zahlen am amerikanischen Arbeitsmarkt

Die Arbeitslosigkeit in den USA liegt laut offiziellen Angaben bei 9,1%, und ist damit mehr als doppelt so hoch wie vor dem Ausbruch der Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise im Jahr 2007. Diese Zahlen sind besorgniserregend schlimm. In Wahrheit sind sie aber noch viel schlimmer:

According to the BLS, the American workforce (employed plus unemployed people) has actually shrunk since October 2008. It doesn’t seem to make sense, given most estimates tend to suggest the US population is growing at 1.0% per year, in part due to immigration. We would expect labour force growth to slow due to the retiring cohort of baby boomers and peak in the participation of women in the labour force. But it shouldn’t be negative.

The reason it is negative is because the BLS doesn’t count those who are marginally attached or discouraged from entering the labour force (as shown above, around 11.4m people). This has the result of reducing the size of the labour force, resulting in a lower unemployment rate percentage. This is why the official unemployment rate is much lower than the broader U-6 measure and has actually been falling. More and more people are becoming so disenchanted with their job prospects that they have simply stopped looking for a job.