Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So unemployment is remaining low, but the labor force is shrinking.
Let's talk to our friend Rory O'Neil west, Michigan's Morning News,
NBC News Radio National correspondent. Good morning, Rory.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey, there's Steve. Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
So what's the trouble. Unemployment's low.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
That's cool, Yeah, that is good. It's around four point
two percent, you know, not perfect, but if you want
a job, you can pretty much find one out there.
But what we're also measuring, and often doesn't get the
headline when those numbers come out at eight thirty on
Friday mornings, is that the total size of the workforce
has shrunk nearly eight hundred thousand workers between April and July.
(00:36):
Some are saying that this may be the result of
the immigration crackdown, that more people are going into the
shadows because of fears that they may be getting deported.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Any other reasons behind why that would that's dramatic.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
It is. Yeah, the why is still a bit of
a mystery. And look, we're not sounding the alert here.
This is not a red alert kind of a situation,
but it is a troubling number that you typically find
only during hard economic time. So this is something certainly
worth following, because when you have a smaller workforce, that
means that oftentimes employers have to pay more to find
(01:14):
workers out there, and then you either have to pay more.
Things can take longer. Imagine buying a house these days
and you can't find people to you know, put the
foundation in or put up the framing or the roofing. Well,
that can make things take longer, and it can also
cost more. So that can hurt the consumer in the
long run because let's say you are building that house
and money now that has to go to that added
(01:36):
cost means, oh, I'm not buying a new living room SAT,
or I'll have to keep the same TV I've got,
can't upgrade there, So it can really have bigger consequences
throughout the economy.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Rory, has there been a breakdown at all as far
as age groups that are choosing not to work?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Iman?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
For instance, I know that you know you're looking at
a married couple of young kids. Maybe it's a daycare situation,
right and one of them is stay at home, or
you know, I look at it from the standpoint of
not too far off from retirement, and a lot of
people that I've talked to that are already in the
retirement are saying, hey, I still want to have a
part time job, and so that workforce is sticking around
(02:11):
a little bit longer just to have an extra paycheck.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, we are seeing that there aren't as many new
workers though, coming into the system, and as you said,
some of the people in the workplace are doing jobs
longer or finding other part time work, sometimes just to
keep busy because they find they don't really they need
something to fulfill their days. But really, I think the
biggest measurement is in this immigration crackdown, where foreign born
(02:36):
share of the labor force was almost a twenty percent
and in the past three months or so has come
down to eighteen percent. I know, sound small, but in
a big country of three hundred and almost fifty million people,
that can translate to about that eight hundred thousand figure.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Rory O'Neil Nbciors Radio National Correspondent, Thank you, Thanks Steve