It has now been four years since the US job market went into an unprecedented freefall because of the Covid-19 pandemic. With that anniversary and the release last week of February jobs numbers comes a once-a-year opportunity to examine the shape of the recovery — once a year because some of the most interesting jobs data aren’t available in seasonally adjusted form. The detailed age-group numbers on employment and labor force participation (the employed plus those actively seeking jobs, who together constitute the labor force, divided by the civilian noninstitutional population) are one example.

The most striking change is the departure of Americans 65 and older from the job market. This has often been described as the departure of Americans 55 and older because the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes 55-and-older numbers in handy seasonally adjusted form every month. In truth, it was only the 65-plussers who left, marking an abrupt end to decades of rising labor force participation. (Note that 65-and-older labor force participation was so high in the 1950s in part because most Americans didn’t survive much past 65 then; average life expectancy didn’t hit 70 until the 1960s.)

QOSHE - Older People Don’t Want to Work After the Pandemic - Justin Fox
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Older People Don’t Want to Work After the Pandemic

15 0
14.03.2024

It has now been four years since the US job market went into an unprecedented freefall because of the Covid-19 pandemic. With that anniversary and the release last week of February jobs numbers comes a once-a-year opportunity to examine the shape of the recovery — once a year because some of the........

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