If you’ve been following us for awhile, you know our standard “Jobs Friday” ChOTD has been the comparison between the Unemployment Rate and the Employment:Population Ratio – or rather the contrast between the two. Since the end of the recession in 2009, the improvement in the Unemployment Rate (thanks in large part to the plummeting participation rate) has masked the real weakness in the labor market. The lack of improvement in the Employment:Population ratio since 2009 illustrates this.

Despite the buoyant headline NFP numbers, the Employment:Population Ratio was unchanged in April. This is disappointing after it had registered a few small upticks in the past 6 months. Given the drop in Unemployment Rate, the spread between the two grew even larger, further distorting the real labor market situation in the U.S.