"Did you see the jobs report today?" asks Sean Hannity. "It was absolutely abysmal. Only 74,000 jobs were created in December, well short of the expected 200,000, yet the unemployment rate fell to 6.7%. This is because 347,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force, bringing the labor force participation rate to a paltry 62.8%, which is a level we haven't seen since 1978. Despite what some news outlets may say, this isn't just because of the weather. According to James Pethokoukis, “If the participation rate had stayed steady the past 12 months, the jobless rate would be 7.9%.” If the labor force participation rate was the same as it was when the recession ended in June 2009, the current unemployment rate would be over 10%. There are now over 90 million Americans no longer in the labor force. [Source]
