We are still at the same level as March 2023.
Yes, we have a good idea as to why. There are a few key factors involved starting with a shift away from full time employment and towards part time and gig work. This means that the number of people working full time jobs with the protections they provide has not gone up even though the population has gone up over that time. These workers are more precarious, experiencing less stable hours, unpredictable income, and easier firing processes. This makes people feel less secure and accept worse conditions. People with precarious employment may be less likely to report wage theft for example, which to be clear is more than all other types of theft combined.
This isn’t per capita, so it’s primarily a population graph. US population growth is stalling, immigration is already the only reason we’re still maintaining any growth, and it’s easy to guess why that might be slowing down now as well.
People are not getting married and people are not having kids.
Having children is poverty for the majority of population so people are doing the smart economic decision.
That’s a good point, I wonder if there’s a better per capita graph somewhere out there.
Maybe the US slowed its population growth?
Just going by this graph and headlines over the last half-decade, probably still COVID hangover. You can see it did something similar in the early 90’s and early 2000’s.
At some point going forwards, blowing up all the US’s trading relationships is going to have an effect, as well. And maybe the AI bubble will burst.
It is also going to drop soon. When immigrants, illegal or not, are forcibly removed, you don’t only remove the low-level jobs required to keep e.g. farms/factories sustainable (general US populace is unlikely to pick up this kind of low-education/low-wage jobs), which forces these companies to close. On the other hand, fewer people in town also means lower spending power, which means that fewer (e.g. food) businesses are sustainable, and this again leads to the closure of companies. The increase number of companies closing will also mean greater unemployment.
Unemployment in the USA has only gone up a small amount:
But full time employment has fallen while part time has risen:
It’s also important to remember U-3 is a rate, not a count. Labor force participation is closer to a count, but has to use calculated values over longer periods, making it more of a rough estimate.
Economy is fucked.
I mean I have not worked since 2024 and my state won’t allow me to inform them im still unemployed and looking for work.
“Won’t allow” you?
yeah there is a system in place to report it even when you are not getting benefits but at one year it won’t let you anymore. thats as long as they are willing to keep track. even though they have an automated system to do it where I put in the work to register my status.
Gotcha, you’re talking about a system that gives you unemployment benefits.
Even without your able to report it there, they are still aware you’re unemployed. If you were employed, the state would be receiving quarterly income tax withholding from your employer as well as FICA contributions at the federal level. You’ve also filed your taxes for 2024, and they see that the only earnings you had were prior to your employment ended.
yeah you always see the thing about the statistics saying people who stopped searching or such and its like. hey. im looking. im not gonna stop. well maybe at some point when I lose my houseing and such.
It’s flattening because of birth rates. You can’t have more working people if they aren’t being born
Aging population.
Not aging, declining. Boomers are retiring and they are the biggest generation.
Aside from the wealth concentrating in the hands of a few, there’s also noting that it’s “working full time”. More people are stuck into part time or multiple part time jobs to make ends meet.
jobs pay a lot less now, BC of inflation, so there is more money for employment. also there’s a lot more people do that makes job numbers go up
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gig economy
I’m no economist but I imagine it has to do with the wealth hoarding that our elite is engaging in.
I believe by most metrics the ultra-rich are holding onto very little cash, most of it is invested (which means some company is spending it to hopefully make more). For example, most of Musk’s fortune is in Tesla and SpaceX, which are employing people and selling things.
I don’t think shortage of cash for businesses (or even consumers really) explains the stalled labor market. Uncertainty about terriffs and fed rates are probably more indicative (and I think it’s hard to argue that those are directly caused by wealth inequality).
