Replies to post #213709 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Rawnoc]

You're joking right?

>> Not enough to keep up with population growth! <<

"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average national unemployment rate in 2003 was 6.0%"
http://www.cbcfinc.org/Resources/State_of_the_Union.html

It's 4.6% now. Obviously the job growth rate has outpaced the growth in the population of the (potential) work force.

[Rawnoc]

You have to remember - job growth rate need not keep up with population growth.

It needs to keep up with the growth of those able and old enough to enter the work force. New born babies, for example, are part of the population growth statistic but are obviously unable to be part of the job growth statistic.

And then you have to factor in all the baby boomers retiring. The question (equation) is....

Is (job growth) greater than (new members of the potential work force minus retirees) ?

"Nearly 2 million people retire each year. As the baby boomer generation begins to exit the work force, that number will rapidly increase.
Soon, as many as 3 million people may retire annually."
http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0,1703,A%3D150115%26M%3D50022,00.html

[Rawnoc]

So we got 6.5 million new jobs, 6 million people retired, and only 9 million in population growth in the last 3 years.

So even ignoring that the population growth consists of babies and many illegal immigrants, we still get a 3.5 million net after accounting for retirees.