Обещание 3: Намаляване на безработицата до 5%; Резултат: 95 млн. американци са извън трудовия пазар

Едно от уж изпълнените обещания на Обама за осемте години управление е намаляване на безработицата до рекордни нива. При встъпването си в длъжност той обеща 5% безработица и днес защитниците на управлението му твърдят, че това е осъществено.

Истината обаче е по-различна. Според официални доклади на американските власти от ноември 95.6 млн. американски работници вече не са работна сила. Те не са безработни, тъй като не са регистрирани като такива. Но не са и в работния сектор.

The total — 95.06 million to be more exact — has been rising consistently but surged by a gaudy 446,000 last month.

The jump occurred as the U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs and the headline unemployment rate dropped sharply.

Explaining the consistent increase in those leaving the labor force is complicated, with factors divided between an aging and rapidly retiring workforce, a skills gap that leaves job openings unfilled, and the nettlesome problem of too many people who find it's just easier to collect welfare and other transfer payments rather than go back to work.

"WTF are so many of them doing?" Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group, said in a note after the nonfarm payrolls report. Boockvar used a crude online expression that nicely sums up the continued frustration with America's shrinking labor force.

In a subsequent interview, he acknowledged the issue is many pronged and poses a long-term obstacle for economic growth.

"It's a combination. There's no question a lot of them are retirees," Boockvar said. "No one wants to say, 'I want to get fired and sit on my butt.' But when people do lose their jobs, they're not being incentivized enough to go back to work compared to the benefits they get by not being at work."