Backwards: Lowest Labor Force Participation Rate Since 1979

In a dismal March jobs report, the labor force participation rate fell to 63.3%, which is the lowest level since May of 1979 when the country was mired in stagflation under President Jimmy Carter’s administration.

According to the report, 663,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force in March and just gave up looking for work, which accounted for the unemployment rate dropping by .1% from February to 7.6%. The labor force participation rate was 63.5% in February. 

When President Barack Obama took office, the labor force participation rate was 65.7%. This means 9,460,000 people have given up looking for work since Obama was inaugurated in January of 2009, when 80,507,000 Americans were out of the labor force. 

Currently, there are nearly 90 million people (89,967,000) who have stopped looking for work and dropped out of the workforce altogether, which is another dubious jobs record under Obama.