BLS: January Unemployment Rate at 6.6%

The Dept of Labor BLS report for January, 2014 identified that the U.S. economy added 113,000 jobs in January, The nation's unemployment rate was 6.6 percent.

Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens responded to the BLS report,

"We learned this week that the Obama Administration views a shrinking workforce participation as a good thing based upon their response to Congressional Budget Office analysis of Obamacare which asserts that more than 2 million people are likely to leave the full-time workforce due to Obamacare.

"The ups and downs of any monthly unemployment report pale in comparison to this startling analysis.  While the labor participation rate shifted upward slightly, it still remains that 3.5 million fewer people who are 16-54 are participating in the workforce compared to January 2009 levels. If they were included in today's jobs report, the unemployment rate would be 8.6 percent, instead of the reported 6.6 percent.

"The impact of this long term shift in workforce participation remains a real source of concern for the future health of the U.S. economy."Evan Feinberg, President of Generation Opportunity, noted, “Young Americans can thank Obamacare for such a bleak jobs picture. The Congressional Budget Office wasn’t lying when it reported Obamacare will reduce the American workforce by an additional 2 million jobs over the next three years. 15.8% of us are still out of work and we have almost nothing to show for it – fewer people have health insurance now than in 2009.”

Generation Opportunity data address millenials ages 18-29 year olds. With regard to the January BLS report, Generation Opportunity detailed that

• The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds, which adjusts for labor force participation by including those who have given up looking for work, is 15.8 percent (NSA). The (U-3) unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds is 11.3 percent (NSA).
• The declining labor force participation rate has created an additional 1.922 million young adults that are not counted as “unemployed” by the U.S. Department of Labor because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs.
• The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29 year old African-Americans is 23.9 percent (NSA); the (U-3) unemployment rate is 20.1 percent (NSA).
• The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29 year old Hispanics is 16.7 percent (NSA); the (U-3) unemployment rate is 12.2 percent (NSA).
• The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29 year old women is 13.5 percent (NSA); the (U-3) unemployment rate is 9.9 percent (NSA).

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