Discouraged Workers, as Illustrated by Little Plastic Figures

Here’s the number that jumped out at me in the new unemployment numbers: There were 1.1 million discouraged workers in January. That number had been 929,000 in December.

Earlier in the week, I made a short video, noting the rise in these “discouraged workers” who don’t show up in the official unemployment rate:

I’m giving the administration a smidgen of credit for not breaking out the party hats because the unemployment rate dropped from 10 percent to 9.7 percent.