The Jobs Report: Solid Growth, But Does Little to Solve Our Economic Malaise

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued the March jobs report.  It shows continued solid growth:  An increase of 215,000 new jobs.  The unemployment rate stayed at 5.0% as more people worked and more people reentered the labor force.  The labor force participation rate is now at 63%.  

The graph shows the percent of the adult population with jobs according to the household survey.  It shows the economic malaise the country has suffered these last seven years. Robert Bartlett tittled his history of the Reagan period The Seven Fat Years.  These have been the seven lean years.

The employment ratio plunged during the recession and continued to fall after its official end (June, 2009.) Jobs data, revised after the NBER called the trough, show that jobs continued to fall into the first few months of 2010.  Jobs growth failed to keep pace with population growth on into 2011.  We really did not see job growth fast enough to outpace population until 2013.

Wichita's Chief Industry

On a less cheerful note, aircraft employment fell by 900.