Inside Sources quoted Dr. Richard Vedder, Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University and Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, in an article on “Economy Gains 178K Additional Jobs.”
The U.S. economy continued its upwards climb by adding an additional 178,000 new jobs during the month of November, according to a federal report Friday….
Labor market indicators elsewhere, however, have not been as positive….
Dr. Richard Vedder
Ohio University professor Richard Vedder tells InsideSources the different indicators have shown the economy is facing a mixed bag of good and bad.
“The good news is people who are actively applying for full-time employment are getting jobs more than they were two or three years ago,” said Vedder. “But the less good news, even the bad news, is we still have a huge portion of our population that is not in the labor force that ought to be in the labor force.”
The labor participation rate tracks the number of employed and those actively seeking work as a percentage of the total population. The participation rate factors in those who have suffered long-term joblessness, unlike the employment rate. It has failed to reach the level it was at before the recession.
“If those people were still looking for jobs, we’d have a substantial amount of unemployment,” Florida State University professor Randall Holcombe told InsideSources. “Another issue is people are underemployed, they’re working part-time, when they might rather have full-time jobs or have jobs that better use the skills that they have.”
Vedder notes the drop in the participation rate translates to millions of potential jobs. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in recent months showed a positive increase after being stuck around one percent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis found that it jumped to 3.2 percent in the third quarter of this year.
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