Making Work Not Pay

April 6, 2013

The jobless rate falls because the labor force shrinks.

The lousy March jobs report jolted financial markets Friday, and understandably so. In a trend that has defined this weakest of all modern economic recoveries, the jobless rate keeps falling but largely because the labor force keeps shrinking.

The unemployment rate fell to a new four-year low of 7.6%, from 7.7% in February. Good news, except the main reason for the decline was that nearly half a million Americans (496,000) left the civilian labor force. They retired, quit working, went back to school or gave up looking for work.


The economy created a net 88,000 new jobs, 95,000 in private business. This means that for every unemployed American who found a job in March, about five left the labor force. If the Obama Administration can convince another three million or so Americans to leave the job market, the President will be able to hail "full employment."

FULL STORY AT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL>>