Somewhat interesting statistics, but a pretty substance-free article that adds little to the original source, and the unsupported political soundbite at the end is not appreciated.
Can anyone find historical data on this number? It seems like it's the "employment-population ratio" in the report. The closest thing I can find is the "civilian labor force participation rate", here:
Apparently it's currently at 65.5%, which is 1.8% off of the record high from the dot-com boom. That doesn't sound so bad. Of course, I don't understand the difference between the two either.
Not quite, the employment population ratio is (100% - unemployment) x labor force participation. The labor force is everyone who has a job, or is actively searching for one.
Incidentally, both employment rate and labor force participation rate are poor indicators of the economy. Some people don't want a job. That number varies based on all sorts of factors which are unrelated to health of the economy: number of retirees, women's lifestyle choices (stay at home or not), number of children (the little brats don't participate in the labor force), etc.
