Data shows unemployment falling, but so is labor participation

U.S. applications for jobless benefits fell to its lowest level in nearly six decades last week, according to new data released on Thursday. Around 187,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits in the week ending July 18, the U.S. Labor Department said. That’s the fewest applications reported since 1969, according to the data.

So what's the bad news? The financial newsletter, The Kobeissi Letter, called the U.S. job market weak under the surface. On Saturday, it cited recent data on the number of adults who are not in the labor force.

That number rose to an all-time high in June as more than 105.8 million adults were unemployed and not actively seeking work, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. June’s number was 2.2 million higher than the 2020 pandemic peak of individuals not in the labor force.

The category of individuals not in the labor force includes Americans age 16 and older. The individuals are also not tallied among the unemployed workers in the United States, who in June totalled 7.1 million, according to the Labor Department.

Additionally, the labor force participation rate fell to 59% in June, the lowest level since 2021.