Nearly 90 million Americans are out of the labor force. The reason why so many have left has been the subject of intense debate on Wall Street among investors, and in Washington among policy-makers. On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shed some light on this issue, but effectively split the difference on the causes of so many Americans not working. The BLS found that approximately 50% of the decline in labor force participation was due to retirees leaving the work force (an overall aging of the US population). The other 50% was due to weak overall economic growth since the Great Recession. With economic growth in the US expected to remain near 2% (at best) over the next 12-24 months, we expect that the labor force participation rate will continue to decline. “This BLS report is one reason that we believe the Federal Reserve should stand pat and not raise the Fed Funds rate in 2016. The strength of the US Dollar is another good reason. The Fed missed their opportunity to raise rates at the ideal time, last Spring,” said Frank Beck, President of Beck Capital. For the full story click here.
