Yesterday, I read an interesting report from Barclays Capital debunking a piece of conventional economic wisdom.
American labor force participation — that is, the percentage of working-age persons who are employed or are looking for a job – has been down since the financial crisis in 2008, putting us on par with Europe, as I noted last year in my cover story on economic mobility. That’s been a big hit to the idea of America as a land of opportunity. Labor force participation in the U.S. now stands at only 63%. Lots of investors and economists believe that’s because so many job seekers out there during the Great Recession and the jobless recovery grew frustrated and gave up looking.
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