The Greater Depression is upon us as unemployment becomes commonplace and poverty explodes. According to CNS News by way of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 103 million people are NOT in the labor force.
The nation’s labor force participation rate reached a 47-year low of 60.2 percent in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as the number of people not in the labor force jumped by 6,570,000 to a record 103,415,000.
The participation rate has now dropped 2.5 percentage points since March, and it is the lowest it has been since the 60.0 percent recorded in January 1973.
A record 103,415,000 Americans, roughly one-third of the population, were counted as “not in the labor force” in April, a gain of 6,570,000 in just one month. The previous record high for this number, swelled in part by retiring baby boomers, was 96,845,000 in March. (The labor force is made up of the employed and the unemployed. The remainder, those who have no job and are not looking for one, are counted as not in the labor force.) (source)
I gravely fear these numbers are about to get higher, because the effects of the virus is akin to throwing a stone into a pond. The “ripple effect” will destroy more jobs, as well as kick more people out of the labor force with no viable way of returning to it, and amid crushing debts, will ensure the long-term poverty of many.
America is going through a fundamental transformation from a land of wealth and perceived wealth to a place where poverty is open, for while a lot of poverty was already there, it is just going to become more obvious now.