>A simpler explanation is that the economy has been expanding for more
>than five years, and since the unemployment rate never really got too
>high in the recession, we started with a not-very-loose labor market
>and it's only gotten tighter.
one thing that the economists I'd interviewed back in 2004 said was that people dropped out and just stopped looking, which helped make the unemployment numbers seem low. When hiring started back up again, the people who'd dropped out started trying to find work again.
I thought it was funny at the time b/c the economist I interviewed thought this was fantabulously genius, this insight. *rolls eyes* She was all, "But see, these discouraged workers do things like house sit and walk dogs and move in with their parents in order to get by. They stop looking for legitimate work and do things that will get them by."
It was like the idea that anyone did this was a big surprise to her.
k
Bitch | Lab http://blog.pulpculture.org