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Without administration/waste services, education/health and leisure/hospitality sectors, the economy's remaining 70% generated no employment growth.
Growth potential appears well south of 1%. America's civilian labor participation rate fell to 63.3%. It's down 0.5% year-over-year. It's 2.4% lower than June 2009, the recessionary trough.
It's the lowest it's been since May 1979. In 1973-75, 1981-82, and 1990-91 (three past recessionary periods), labor force participation rates were flat. Sharp rebounds followed. Human capital no longer matters. That sentiment reflects deplorable third world economic conditions.
The Economic Policy Institute called March data "a big negative surprise." It underscores no "robust jobs recovery." Returning to "pre-recession unemployment rate in three years, (requires) add(ing) 320,000 jobs every single month"."
Labor market slack reflects a nine million jobs deficit. Unemployment is unconscionably high. Wage growth is weak. Faltering economic growth teeters toward heading south. Hard times keep getting harder. Workers wanting jobs unable to find them reflects it.
A Wall Street Journal editorial headlined "Making Work Not Pay," saying:
March numbers were "lousy." Trend data reflect the weakest ever modern recovery. The jobless rate keeps falling because labor force numbers keep shrinking.
Five workers quit looking for every one finding jobs. If Obama "can convince another three million or so Americans to leave the job market, (he'll) be able to hail 'full employment.' "
Since the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) declared recession's mid-2009 end, 113,000 fewer monthly jobs were created during normal recovery times.
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