Unemployment rate declining YAY!

           For the 38th consecutive month, the country added: 203,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in November. But employment still has a way to go before returning to its pre-recession level. Since the downturn began in December 2007, the economy has had an average decline of about 1 percent in its nonfarm jobs. And that does not account for the fact that the working-age population has continued to grow, it means that if the economy were healthy there should be more jobs today than there were before the recession.
           The drop in the unemployment rate in the current recovery, to 7 percent of the labor force, has been achieved in part by a decline in labor force participation. In order to get to an unemployment rate of 6 percent while returning to the labor force participation rate that prevailed at the recession’s end in June 2009 would require nearly seven more years of monthly job growth at November’s pace. Still, the latest data comes at a time when other signs are pointing to improved economic performance next year, both in the United States and abroad, including more enthusiastic manufacturing activity and hiring.
           The economy’s performance in the final months of 2013 will also determine the denouement of one of the longest-running dramas on Wall Street — the timing of when the Federal Reserve begins easing its stimulus efforts. Investors and traders had expected policy makers to begin decreasing its monthly $85 billion bond purchases in September. Although the latest data on growth in gross domestic product comes after a series of better-than-expected figures in the United States, American central bankers don’t appear to be in a rush to pull back on the stimulus. While they could act as soon as the next Fed meeting later this month, many analysts do not expect a move until early 2014.
           This article is from the New York Times. Well, at least the economy is on the rise! Baby steps, that’s all it takes is baby steps. So the one thing that I don’t exactly understand: it will take seven years at November’s pace to bring the labor force participation rate to normal? Is it even possible to keep up that rate? Well, if I’ve learned anything in economics it’s that anything can happen in a matter of minutes. But, it is a good thing that the unemployment rate is dropping. I can’t believe that a majority of people live in unemployment. Watching that video was really eye opening, so I’m glad that more people are working.