See The (Shocking) Numbers Behind the Jobs Numbers

Yesterday we showed you a depressing chart that shows "it would take until 2016 to regain the employment highs of 2006-2007.” That's a reality check considering the media blitz the administration took part in last week trumpeting the great jobs numbers. Ready for some more? According to number-crunching blogger Jim Quinn (via Zero Hedge), the jobs numbers are leaving out some important details.

Despite Obama and his crew boasting about adding 216,000 jobs last month, Quinn says the economic picture isn't all roses and buttercups:

All it took was 2.8 million Americans to leave the labor force to achieve this fabulous reduction in the unemployment rate. The percentage of Americans in the labor force of 64.2% is the lowest since 1983. The employment to population ratio of 58.5% is also the lowest since 1983. These atrocious figures are after a supposed economic recovery that has been underway for the last 18 months.

He provides a chart from calculatedriskblog.com to back up his assertions:

"The percentage of the American working population in the workforce consistently ranged between 66% and 67% from 1998 through 2008," he writes. "Then, suddenly in 2008, after the economy went in the tank, a couple million Americans found better things to do with their spare time and left the workforce."

Quinn also references the increased amount of Americans taking food stamps. See that chart over on the the blog.