Historic drop in percentage of adult population employed not expressed in normally touted 'jobs number'

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3/4/11, "Morning Jay: 'Known Unknowns' for 2012," Weekly Standard, The Blog

"Indeed, there is really nothing in the record books that correlates with the current situation. If you look at the

• percentage of the total adult population employed,

you might wish to conclude that we are actually in the second phase of

• a double-dip jobs recession.*

This often overlooked trend is something that the unemployment rate is not going to pick up when large numbers of workers become discouraged and drop out of the labor force.

• This graph helps explain why George W. Bush was hounded by criticism of a "jobless recovery" in 2004 despite the fact that the unemployment rate was low. You will also see that, though the country added jobs last year, those have basically just kept up with population growth, meaning that

we're still at the bottom of a huge crater."...
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*Joining the US housing market whose drop as of Jan. 2011 exceeded the worst achieved in the great depression:

1/11/11, "The housing market, on the other hand, just crossed that threshold.

• Home values have fallen 26 percent since their peak in June 2006, worse than the 25.9-percent decline seen during the Depression years
  
• between 1928 and 1933, Zillow reported.

November marked the 53^rd consecutive month (4 ½ years) that home values have fallen.

What’s worse, it’s not over yet: Home values are expected to continue to slide as inventories pile up, and likely won't recover until the job market improves."...

1/11/11, "Housing Market Slips Into Depression Territory," CNBC, Perman

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1/25/11, "Price Drop Points to Likely Double Dip in Housing Market," Reuters, via CNBC

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via Legal Insurrection