Republican presidential candidates are seizing on record low labor force participation to attack President Obama on his economic policies.
While most economists argue that the economy is improving since it collapsed in 2008, polls indicate that most Americans are frustrated with the pace of the recovery.
{mosads}The unemployment rate has declined to 5.3 percent — a stark contrast from the double-digit levels seen at the height of the economic crisis.
But official statistics also indicate that fewer non-working Americans are looking for a job. The labor participation rate — a metric based on the pool of people used to calculate unemployment — is at 62.6 percent, a 38-year low.
The crowded field of GOP White House hopefuls is increasingly citing the number as candidates make their cases for a departure from current administration’s policies.
“Fewer Americans are working than at any time since Jimmy Carter,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote in a recent blog post. “After seven years of old-school liberalism, fewer Americans are working than at any time since the Great Recession in the first quarter of 2014.”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is using the figure to attack Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s economic agenda, which he argues mirrors that of Obama’s.
“Barack Obama’s policies have given us a zombie economy where no matter what else happens, most Americans are falling behind,” Bush wrote in a blog post accompanying a campaign video released last month. “Hillary Clinton, and her economic agenda could be summarized easily: Whatever Obama is doing, let’s double down on it.”
Added Bush spokesman Tim Miller: “If we can’t get more Americans into the labor force, we will never grow at a rate that will allow everyone to have a chance at prosperity.”
In a recent appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) denounced the “stagnant middle class wage growth.”
”The labor participation rate is at an all-time low. So if your argument is that we’re on the road to recovery and we’re in a sound economy under President Obama, no, I don’t agree with it at all,” Graham said.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen has referenced the low participation rate as a concerning economic indicator that could deter central bank policymakers from an expected move to raise interest rates in the coming months.
Fed officials set the interest rate at zero following the collapse to encourage economic growth. Still, the looming rate increase is being taken as a sign the economy is recovering.
For its part, the administration has sought to downplay the significance of the participation rate. The White House, for instance, has noted that its downward trend appears to have stabilized in recent months.
And some argue that its importance might be overstated, particularly as more 20-somethings pursue higher-education degrees or enlist in volunteer opportunities. Further, some older Americans might be choosing to retire earlier, further contributing to the lower rate.
Mark Calabria, a former senior GOP Senate Committee Banking aide who now heads up the Cato Institute’s financial services team, said that he doesn’t think “anyone disagrees that things are better” than after the collapse.
“But the point is that recovery has been weak and weaker than past recoveries,” he said. “The focus on participation rate is driven by concern that some policies have made work less attractive.”