I was at a downtown event after work recently and bumped into an old friend I hadn't seen in several years.
The last time we spoke, he was looking for a job and I'd tried to help with a few leads.
Without me asking, he volunteered that nothing had ever turned up and that he essentially had quit looking. These days, he occasionally took a freelance assignment, but mainly he stayed busy helping other family members.
I was surprised. My friend is an exceptionally talented and creative person who also has a strong work ethic - just the kind of person companies always say they are looking for. Yet, here he was, a college graduate with decades of proven experience, who no one wanted.
My friend's situation is becoming increasingly common, economists say. While the nation's jobless rate has improved significantly since the Great Recession of 2008, what those numbers don't reflect is how many people have given up on the job market.
These people are different than the "discouraged" workers measured monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The government considers a worker as "discouraged" if they are not in the labor force currently because they believe there's nothing available for them but want to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. Workers in this category numbered 988,000 in July, up by 136,000 from a year earlier.
That sounds bad enough, except the total doesn't include what might be called "super-discouraged" individuals like my friend who haven't sought work in a while. Earlier this year, CNN Money estimated that there now are a whopping 3.25 million such hopeless workers nationwide, up from 2.5 million before the start of the recession.
This latter group has completely fallen off the computer screens at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which makes the rebound in the official jobless rate seem less impressive.
Some critics of the current economy say the job market cannot be considered truly healthy again until it is creating enough work for even the ultra-jaded to return.
Indeed, some observers have focused on the nation's recent commerce problems, as well as the aging baby boomer population as ways to explain the growing number of missing workers. But a recent article in the New York Times indicates the reasons are more complex and builds a case that the trend actually stretches back much farther.
Baby-boomer retirements have only a small role in the drop, Times reporter David Leonhardt wrote, noting that the labor force participation rate has fallen almost as much for people age 25 to 54 as it has for the overall adult population.
As for weak job demand, Leonhardt found evidence to suggest the issue actually dates back 13 years to the 2000-2001 dot-com bust.
A study released last month by Oklahoma City-based Express Employment Professionals added some more perspective. According to Express, the labor force participation rate - the percentage of adults who have a job or are looking for one - has sunk to a 34-year low.
The trend is a "tragedy in the making, and its impact on the country has been underestimated," researchers said.
Express also is worried by statistics that show a great number of younger Americans giving up and leaving the workforce.
The employment company said many super-discouraged workers - young and old - seem to lack the skills most wanted by employers.
Express also believes that since there are multiple forces causing people to stay at home, a wide-ranging variety of efforts may be needed to reverse the trend.
"Following the Great Recession, we've entered into the Great Shift," said Bob Funk, CEO of Express Employment Professionals, and a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
"This is a period defined by the boomer retirements, millennial frustration and growing reliance on government programs. All indicators suggest this shift is not sustainable, which means we need action on everything from immigration policy to job training."
Despite its importance, the labor force participation rate rarely makes headlines, Funk noted.
"We see unemployment ticking down and think things are getting better, but for the last few years, there's been this unsettling trend that demands more focus. We have to come to terms with what it means for our economy before more damage is done," he said.
Original Print Headline: Jobless stats don't tell whole story
Column - Stancavage
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