59% of the population is currently employed, down from 65% in 2000. We're down ~2.5% from where we were in 2020. Which doesn't exactly seems to jive with the reported "unemployment rate" - https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate
In 2020, 158M were employed, now 155M are employed (with millions increase in population). We're probably looking at a gap of at least 5 million.
There are people genuinely exiting the workforce, however. Biggest of note is those over 65 that were previously working part or full time that have decided to rely solely on retirement income.[0] You have have a lot of exits due to childcare related issues.[1] The workforce has genuinely contracted during the pandemic.
ETA: Looking on the other side, there is likely some unknowable number of 16-18 year olds that are not entering the workforce yet, that would have pre-pandemic.
> 4.2% unemployment rate, which is amazing given where we were a year ago
That's not exactly an accurate way to describe what's happening...
Look at the 25 year trends:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/employed-persons
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/employment-rate
59% of the population is currently employed, down from 65% in 2000. We're down ~2.5% from where we were in 2020. Which doesn't exactly seems to jive with the reported "unemployment rate" - https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate
In 2020, 158M were employed, now 155M are employed (with millions increase in population). We're probably looking at a gap of at least 5 million.
Average working hours have not increased:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/average-weekly-ho...