Here are the key metric graphs reflecting the annual data with revisions and including the full years of 2011 – 2014. Revisions were minor and did not alter any of the poor short or long term trends reflected.
Starting at top, left we have the size of the labor charted against the total number of those employed. We can see as the lines converge the unemployment rate calculation will become smaller even though there is no improvement in the labor force. This point is validated moving to the right and then below, left showing the participation rate and the number of those no longer in the labor force. The fact that the graph showing those no longer in the force is rising faster than the total employed line is very unsettling and not recovery-esque. Finally at below, right we see the length of the work week showing a very narrow average over the period.
