Oh, So NOW Liberals Care About the Labor Force Participation Rate!

[mikegriffith1]

With the ongoing flood of good economic news, liberals are desperate to find some excuse, any excuse, to say, "yeah, but. . . ." So now they're desperately clinging to an indicator that they ignored during the Obama years: the labor force participation rate (LFPR). Here are some basic facts that explain why the LFPR is one of the least important indicators of the employment situation:

* During the two worst recessions in the last 40 years--the 1981-82 recession and the 2008-2009 recession--the LFPR changed very little, and never by more than 2 percentage points. Conversely, even during the robust Reagan recovery, the LFPR never changed by more than 2.1 percentage points, and during the even stronger Clinton recovery, it never changed by more 1.3 percentage points.

* In January 1981, the LFPR was 63.9%. In December 1981, during the middle of the 1981-82 recession, the LFPR was 63.6%, a decrease of only 0.3 percentage points (or about 1/3 of a percentage point).

* Here's why liberals did not want to talk about the LFPR during the Obama years: When the "Great Recession" began in August 2008, the LFPR was 66.1%. In December 2009, after Obama's "recovery" had supposedly begun, the LFPR was 64.3%! In October 2013, four years into Obama's "recovery," the LFPR was down to 62.8%, a decrease of 3.8 percentage points from the start of the 2008-2009 recession, and a decrease of 1.5 percentage points during Obama's supposed "recovery"! Two years further into Obama's "recovery, " i.e., September 2015, the LFPR was down to 62.3%!

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data (change the year range back to 1977)

Truth be told, the LFPR will likely stay comparatively low for some time because we have a much larger population of retirees than we did 20 years ago. Plus, we must keep in mind that when families improve their economic situation, as many have done over the last year, a number of them choose to have mom stay home and take care of the kids (and save themselves a ton of money in daycare costs).

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Kind of like how Republicans only cared about the national debt when Obama was president

 

[TheOldSchool]

With the ongoing flood of good economic news, liberals are desperate to find some excuse, any excuse, to say, "yeah, but. . . ." So now they're desperately clinging to an indicator that they ignored during the Obama years: the labor force participation rate (LFPR). Here are some basic facts that explain why the LFPR is one of the least important indicators of the employment situation:

* During the two worst recessions in the last 40 years--the 1981-82 recession and the 2008-2009 recession--the LFPR changed very little, and never by more than 2 percentage points. Conversely, even during the robust Reagan recovery, the LFPR never changed by more than 2.1 percentage points, and during the even stronger Clinton recovery, it never changed by more 1.3 percentage points.

* In January 1981, the LFPR was 63.9%. In December 1981, during the middle of the 1981-82 recession, the LFPR was 63.6%, a decrease of only 0.3 percentage points (or about 1/3 of a percentage point).

* Here's why liberals did not want to talk about the LFPR during the Obama years: When the "Great Recession" began in August 2008, the LFPR was 66.1%. In December 2009, after Obama's "recovery" had supposedly begun, the LFPR was 64.3%! In October 2013, four years into Obama's "recovery," the LFPR was down to 62.8%, a decrease of 3.8 percentage points from the start of the 2008-2009 recession, and a decrease of 1.5 percentage points during Obama's supposed "recovery"! Two years further into Obama's "recovery, " i.e., September 2015, the LFPR was down to 62.3%!

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data (change the year range back to 1977)

Truth be told, the LFPR will likely stay comparatively low for some time because we have a much larger population of retirees than we did 20 years ago. Plus, we must keep in mind that when families improve their economic situation, as many have done over the last year, a number of them choose to have mom stay home and take care of the kids (and save themselves a ton of money in daycare costs).

^ suddenly stopped caring about the labor force participation rate on November 8, 2016.

The number of people out of the workforce has grown since Trump’s inauguration. Bigly.

 

[Mac1958]

Partisan politics, par for the course.

Unemployment Rate, Participation Rate, GDP, deficits, the debt, the stock market - it all gets spun around by wingers to their benefit, when needed, as needed. It's all a big fucking joke. A game.

We all know this, right?
.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Partisan politics, par for the course.

Unemployment Rate, Participation Rate, GDP, deficits, the debt, the stock market - it all gets spun around by wingers to their benefit, when needed, as needed. It's all a big fucking joke. A game.

We all know this, right?
.

It’s the only way to win. Feel free to sit out.

 

[LoneLaugher]

I've had no change of opinion on the importance of the labor participation rate. None whatsoever.

 

[Mac1958]

Partisan politics, par for the course.

Unemployment Rate, Participation Rate, GDP, deficits, the debt, the stock market - it all gets spun around by wingers to their benefit, when needed, as needed. It's all a big fucking joke. A game.

We all know this, right?
.

It’s the only way to win. Feel free to sit out.

Win what?
.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Partisan politics, par for the course.

Unemployment Rate, Participation Rate, GDP, deficits, the debt, the stock market - it all gets spun around by wingers to their benefit, when needed, as needed. It's all a big fucking joke. A game.

We all know this, right?
.

It’s the only way to win. Feel free to sit out.

Win what?
.

Some say in the direction of the country

 

[Mac1958]

Partisan politics, par for the course.

Unemployment Rate, Participation Rate, GDP, deficits, the debt, the stock market - it all gets spun around by wingers to their benefit, when needed, as needed. It's all a big fucking joke. A game.

We all know this, right?
.

It’s the only way to win. Feel free to sit out.

Win what?
.

Some say in the direction of the country

We all have that. We've just forgotten that you win some, you lose some.

But I have no idea how lies, attacks, hate, division and hypocrisy is supposed to improve anything.
.

 

[rightwinger]

With the ongoing flood of good economic news, liberals are desperate to find some excuse, any excuse, to say, "yeah, but. . . ." So now they're desperately clinging to an indicator that they ignored during the Obama years: the labor force participation rate (LFPR). Here are some basic facts that explain why the LFPR is one of the least important indicators of the employment situation:

* During the two worst recessions in the last 40 years--the 1981-82 recession and the 2008-2009 recession--the LFPR changed very little, and never by more than 2 percentage points. Conversely, even during the robust Reagan recovery, the LFPR never changed by more than 2.1 percentage points, and during the even stronger Clinton recovery, it never changed by more 1.3 percentage points.

* In January 1981, the LFPR was 63.9%. In December 1981, during the middle of the 1981-82 recession, the LFPR was 63.6%, a decrease of only 0.3 percentage points (or about 1/3 of a percentage point).

* Here's why liberals did not want to talk about the LFPR during the Obama years: When the "Great Recession" began in August 2008, the LFPR was 66.1%. In December 2009, after Obama's "recovery" had supposedly begun, the LFPR was 64.3%! In October 2013, four years into Obama's "recovery," the LFPR was down to 62.8%, a decrease of 3.8 percentage points from the start of the 2008-2009 recession, and a decrease of 1.5 percentage points during Obama's supposed "recovery"! Two years further into Obama's "recovery, " i.e., September 2015, the LFPR was down to 62.3%!

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data (change the year range back to 1977)

Truth be told, the LFPR will likely stay comparatively low for some time because we have a much larger population of retirees than we did 20 years ago. Plus, we must keep in mind that when families improve their economic situation, as many have done over the last year, a number of them choose to have mom stay home and take care of the kids (and save themselves a ton of money in daycare costs).

I used to only care about U3 unemployment numbers until Republicans changed the rules and convinced me that labor participation rate was the only number that matters

 

[TheOldSchool]

Partisan politics, par for the course.

Unemployment Rate, Participation Rate, GDP, deficits, the debt, the stock market - it all gets spun around by wingers to their benefit, when needed, as needed. It's all a big fucking joke. A game.

We all know this, right?
.

It’s the only way to win. Feel free to sit out.

Win what?
.

Some say in the direction of the country

We all have that. We've just forgotten that you win some, you lose some.

But I have no idea how lies, attacks, hate, division and hypocrisy is supposed to improve anything.
.

The alternative is not an option at the moment

 

[Mac1958]

Partisan politics, par for the course.

Unemployment Rate, Participation Rate, GDP, deficits, the debt, the stock market - it all gets spun around by wingers to their benefit, when needed, as needed. It's all a big fucking joke. A game.

We all know this, right?
.

It’s the only way to win. Feel free to sit out.

Win what?
.

Some say in the direction of the country

We all have that. We've just forgotten that you win some, you lose some.

But I have no idea how lies, attacks, hate, division and hypocrisy is supposed to improve anything.
.

The alternative is not an option at the moment

Yeah, I get that one from both sides.

And here we are.
.

 

[rightwinger]

I used to think labor force participation rate was a poor way to evaluate the workforce.

But our President says all other measures are fake

 

[TheOldSchool]

It’s the only way to win. Feel free to sit out.

Win what?
.

Some say in the direction of the country

We all have that. We've just forgotten that you win some, you lose some.

But I have no idea how lies, attacks, hate, division and hypocrisy is supposed to improve anything.
.

The alternative is not an option at the moment

Yeah, I get that one from both sides.

And here we are.
.

Yeah, let’s fight the cruel, vindictive troll in the White House with sugar and spice

 

[Mac1958]

Win what?
.

Some say in the direction of the country

We all have that. We've just forgotten that you win some, you lose some.

But I have no idea how lies, attacks, hate, division and hypocrisy is supposed to improve anything.
.

The alternative is not an option at the moment

Yeah, I get that one from both sides.

And here we are.
.

Yeah, let’s fight the cruel, vindictive troll in the White House with sugar and spice

Okay, never mind.
.

 

[Siete]

as the boomers retire in record numbers the LFPR will continue to grow .... as the unemployment rate reaches new lows it will show how damn stupid RW's are for confusing the two -

life must be a brain fart for RW's

 

[LoneLaugher]

Win what?
.

Some say in the direction of the country

We all have that. We've just forgotten that you win some, you lose some.

But I have no idea how lies, attacks, hate, division and hypocrisy is supposed to improve anything.
.

The alternative is not an option at the moment

Yeah, I get that one from both sides.

And here we are.
.

Yeah, let’s fight the cruel, vindictive troll in the White House with sugar and spice

You still don't understand. Had Hillary been the winner, the other side would have said the same thing to Mac here. They feel like she is Satan in a pants suit and would have fundamentally transformed America into a gay socialist Utopia where MS13 is given your house and daughters.

Of course, that sort of rhetoric is equally valid to and in no way different from the rhetoric of those who oppose Trump. Both sides do it and both are wrong.

And that fact must be stated daily in several threads. It's the only way out!

 

[TheOldSchool]

Some say in the direction of the country

We all have that. We've just forgotten that you win some, you lose some.

But I have no idea how lies, attacks, hate, division and hypocrisy is supposed to improve anything.
.

The alternative is not an option at the moment

Yeah, I get that one from both sides.

And here we are.
.

Yeah, let’s fight the cruel, vindictive troll in the White House with sugar and spice

You still don't understand. Had Hillary been the winner, the other side would have said the same thing to Mac here. They feel like she is Satan in a pants suit and would have fundamentally transformed America into a gay socialist Utopia where MS13 is given your house and daughters.

Of course, that sort of rhetoric is equally valid to and in no way different from the rhetoric of those who oppose Trump. Both sides do it and both are wrong.

And that fact must be stated daily in several threads. It's the only way out!

Indeed. Both parties are the same don’t ya know. So we really should never engage in political discussion.

 

[LoneLaugher]

We all have that. We've just forgotten that you win some, you lose some.

But I have no idea how lies, attacks, hate, division and hypocrisy is supposed to improve anything.
.

The alternative is not an option at the moment

Yeah, I get that one from both sides.

And here we are.
.

Yeah, let’s fight the cruel, vindictive troll in the White House with sugar and spice

You still don't understand. Had Hillary been the winner, the other side would have said the same thing to Mac here. They feel like she is Satan in a pants suit and would have fundamentally transformed America into a gay socialist Utopia where MS13 is given your house and daughters.

Of course, that sort of rhetoric is equally valid to and in no way different from the rhetoric of those who oppose Trump. Both sides do it and both are wrong.

And that fact must be stated daily in several threads. It's the only way out!

Indeed. Both parties are the same don’t ya know. So we really should never engage in political discussion.

Naturally. When one of us points out that Trump does something inappropriate like giving top security clearance to his daughter and Jared Kushner, we should absolutely equate that with Hillary using a southern drawl while addressing southerners. Total equivalency.

We are equally responsible for the decline in civility. Everyone can see it.

 

[Mac1958]

We all have that. We've just forgotten that you win some, you lose some.

But I have no idea how lies, attacks, hate, division and hypocrisy is supposed to improve anything.
.

The alternative is not an option at the moment

Yeah, I get that one from both sides.

And here we are.
.

Yeah, let’s fight the cruel, vindictive troll in the White House with sugar and spice

You still don't understand. Had Hillary been the winner, the other side would have said the same thing to Mac here. They feel like she is Satan in a pants suit and would have fundamentally transformed America into a gay socialist Utopia where MS13 is given your house and daughters.

Of course, that sort of rhetoric is equally valid to and in no way different from the rhetoric of those who oppose Trump. Both sides do it and both are wrong.

And that fact must be stated daily in several threads. It's the only way out!

Indeed. Both parties are the same don’t ya know. So we really should never engage in political discussion.

This is a beautiful example of why trying to communicate with wingers is pointless, at least online.

In your mind, either it's hate, attacks, hyperbole, distortion, division and hypocrisy, OR it's, in your words, "sugar and spice". That's it. No in between.

Wingers are afflicted with binary thought processes. Either/or, win or lose, us vs. them, all or nothing. You see no other options. Your mind is closed and paralyzed.

Nothing of substance is accomplished until the wingers are somehow marginalized.
.