May 3, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today responded to an Associated Press report predicting the nation’s jobless rate to drop to 7.9 percent by Election Day, which “would boost President Barack Obama’s prospects in November:”
“If the unemployment rate continues to drop, even to 7.9 percent, it will likely be on account of the continued decrease in the civilian labor force participation rate, which has dropped from 65.7 percent in January 2009 to 63.8 percent last month.
“That’s actually not good news. Almost 4.7 million Americans have dropped out of the labor force since Obama took office, because they have given up on looking for work. If they were included in the government’s measurement of unemployed, the rate would be closer to 10.8 percent, and the underemployed rate 17 percent based on April’s numbers. All together more than 27 million people cannot find full-time work in the Obama economy.
“Due to the drop in labor force participation the traditional jobless rate is meaningless as an economic indicator and does not reflect the economic misery facing the American public.
“Yet ‘leading’ economists predict continued drops in the jobless rate based on imaginary job growth rather than Americans giving up on the Obama economy. And this is supposed to help Obama? It seems likely those 27 million people will have some extra time on their hands come November 6 to let Obama know what they think of his economy.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
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