Bloomberg (10/03/13) Caroline Salas Gage; Duane Stanford
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart says declining labor participation rates and problems of underemployment make it “extremely challenging” to properly assess the labor market. Although joblessness declined from 7.4% in July to 7.3% in August, the fall was due to discouraged individuals giving up their job search. The labor force participation rate fell from 63.4% in July to 63.2% in August, the lowest rate since 1978.