Hello all, I'm new to the site and this is my first post! When looking at unemployment data it's advisable to also take into account labor participation stats. There is a downward trend in the labor force participation rate since the start of the decade that seems to be out of sync with the general economic cycle. How does this affect our interpretation of the unemployment rate? My reason for concern is that most of the explanations for the participation rate decline point to demographics, education trends etc rather than general economic cycles. So what's the proper way to adjust for this in how we look at unemployment? Some background articles: The incredible shrinking labor force http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...g-labor-force/2012/05/04/gIQANXAy1T_blog.html The U.S. labor force is still shrinking. Hereâs why. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...r-force-is-still-shrinking-rapidly-heres-why/ Why the labor force participation debate matters http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...the-labor-force-participation-debate-matters/ On the Causes of Declines in the Labor Force Participation Rate http://philadelphiafed.org/research...nes-in-the-labor-force-participation-rate.pdf