The Shocking Truth About Unemployment In America In One Chart (well, two charts)

The Shocking Truth About Unemployment In America In One Chart:

"If you want to know the shocking truth about unemployment in America, all you need to do is to look at one chart.  The chart posted below shows the change in the employment-population ratio over the past few years.  What the employment-population ratio measures is the percentage of working age Americans that actually have jobs.  As you can see, it fell dramatically during 2008 and 2009, and since then it has been hovering between 58 and 59 percent...."

If you want to know the shocking truth about unemployment in America, all you need to do is to look at one chart.  The chart posted below shows the change in the employment-population ratio over the past few years.  What the employment-population ratio measures is the percentage of working age Americans that actually have jobs.  As you can see, it fell dramatically during 2008 and 2009, and since then it has been hovering between 58 and 59 percent....

So there has been no employment recovery, and this is very odd because the employment-population ratio always bounces back after a recession.

The chart posted below shows how the employment-population ratio has changed since the late 1940s.  The shaded areas represent recessions.  Please take note that after every single recession (other than the current one) the employment-population ratio has always bounced back substantially.

During the most recent recession, the employment-population ratio fell farther than it had during any other recession in the post-World War II era.

If these were normal economic times, it would have been reasonable to expect a huge surge in hiring by now.

But we have not seen that.

Instead, the employment rate in the United States has been remarkably flat for more than two years.

So Barack Obama should not even begin to say anything at all about a "recovery" until the employment rate at least breaks the 59 percent barrier.