Record 88,921,000 Americans ‘Not in Labor Force’—119,000 Fewer Employed in August Than JulyThe Labor Department counts a person as not in the civilian labor force
if they are at least 16 years old, are not in the military or an
institution such as a prison, mental hospital or nursing home, and have not actively looked for a job in the last four
weeks. The department counts a person as in “the civilian labor force”
if they are at least 16, are not in the military or an institution such
as a prison, mental hospital or nursing home, and either do have a job
or have actively looked for one in the last four weeks.In July, there were 155,013,000 in the U.S. civilian labor force. In August that dropped to 154,645,000—meaning that on net 368,000 people simply dropped out of the labor force last month and did not even look for a job.

There were also 119,000 fewer Americans employed in August than there
were in July. In July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
there were 142,220,000 Americans working. But, in August, there were
only 142,101,000 Americans working.Despite the fact that fewer Americans were employed in August than
July, the unemployment rate ticked down from 8.3 in July to 8.1. That is
because so many people dropped out of the labor force and stopped
looking for work. The unemployment rate is the percentage of people in
the labor force (meaning they had a job or were actively looking for
one) who did not have a job.
The Bureau of Labor Statistic also reported that in August the labor
force participation rate (the percentage of the people in the civilian
non-institutionalized population who either had a job or were actively
looking for one) dropped to a 30-year low of 63.5 percent,
down from 63.7 percent in July. The last time the labor force
participation rate was as low as 63.5 percent was in September 1981.

CNSNews.com is not funded by the government like NPR.

CNSNews.com is not funded by the government like PBS.


http://cnsnews.com/news/article/record-88921000-americans-not-labor-force-119000-fewer-employed-august-july