Unemployment rate vs. job growth. What matters more to the voter?

[Wisconsin+17]

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Workforce participation. Welcome back, Carter!

[Wisconsin+17]

"(1) as people live longer, a greater share are in retirement"

Actually, we're seeing the opposite effect. Most of the change has been with young people under 30 who can't find work. Older people are actually staying level, which means they are staying on their jobs rather than retiring.

"(2) as first bachelor's, then master's and other graduate degrees become more important, people are staying longer in school"

People can't get jobs so they go back to school to try to get a job. This isn't a good thing. Staying longer in school, means that fewer people are working. If jobs were available then they would be working.

"as teenagers get more "distractions" [internet, television, etc], they are participating less in the labor force"

Which has nothing to do with 50+ unemployment. Nobody's hiring teenagers- for anything. Not when they can pick up someone who's got a bachelor's degree for the exact same work and wage.

Basically, Obama's managed to undo all the workforce gains of the last 30 years. We are just a few percentage points off the peak of 1955.