We are not at Full-employment.  If the missing participants are added to the unemployed for August 2016 we find that the unemployment rate more than doubles. We are not at 5.00% unemployment, unadjusted. We are more likely to be at 10.27% or as high as 13.15% unemployed. The missing participants are in economic limbo, neither employed, nor unemployed. Thinkabout that as people start discussing how we are at full-employment.

We are laboring under false pretenses.

We Are Missing Millions of Participants. Are they unemployed? If we compare the number of unemployed workers between the four presidents and the participation rates we see a very different picture. We have a failure to participate.The number of full-time workers under each President is greater than his predecessors. The number of part-time workers are higher than his predecessor. These are good trends. The workforce population is also larger. The problem is that while Presidents Reagan and Clinton added more jobs than workers, under Presidents Bush and Obama we have added more workers than jobs.

We are Missing 8.7 Million to 10.9 Million Participants. It was stated previously that President Obama has added only 5.996 million participants. This is because his drop in the unemployment level since taking office has added negative participants to his ledger. They are no longer unemployed. They are not all employed. They have gone missing. If we did not factor into the participation rates of the four Presidents President Obama would need 6.3 million participants more to catch up with President Bush.  If President Obama wanted to catch up with his predecessors for participation increases he would have to add 5.3 million more participants to catch up with President Bush, over 9 million to catch up with President Clinton, and over 10 million to catch up with President Reagan. If we factor in the changes in the participation rates those numbers inflate to 8.7 million to catch up with President Bush, 9.7 million to catch up with President Reagan, and 10.9 million to catch up with President Clinton.

Another way to examine the data is through the workforce participation rate and the unemployment rates of the four Presidents. President Reagan had a participation rate during his 91st month of 66.76% and an unemployment rate of 5.40%. Five percent has traditionally been considered to be full-employment. President Reagan saw unemployment exceed 11% during his time in office. His lowest participation rate was 63.04%. Keep this number in mind for later.

President Clinton had a participation rate of 67.24% and unemployment rate of 4.10% during his final August. This was true full-employment. Participation was high, even higher than Reagan, and unemployment was lower than President Reagan. People work participation and not unemployed. Unemployed are counted as participants.

President Bush had a participation rate was 66.37% - almost as high as Reagan - and his unemployment rate was climbing at 6.10%. What is forgotten about President Bush is that he inherited a recession that pushed the unemployment rate to over 6%. Even at 6.10% the unemployment was lower than during his first recession. He was running a participation rate of 66.37% during the start of his second recession.

President Obama has reduced the Unemployment Rate at the expense of the participation rate. What has not been observed elsewhere is that President Obama's participation rate has stabilized over the past few months. The August Participation rate is not as low as the August 2015 participation was. What is also being 'ignored' in part is that President Obama's participation rate is lower than President Reagan's, Clinton's, or Bush's participation rate. President Obama's 62.95% participation rate is lower than any of President Reagan's participation rates.

The participation rate is based on the population. The unemployment rate is based on the number of participants (the employed plus the unemployed.) We have managed to add participants under each of the four Presidents. President Obama has added 5.996 million participants after 91 months. President Bush added 12.287 million. President Clinton added 15.620 million and President Reagan added 16.381 million.

Four Presidents at 91 Months - Laboring Under False Pretenses

This Labor Day I was tempted to take the day off from writing. It came to me that because I enjoy writing these columns that it isn't really labor as much as a calling.  The media is focused on a non-existent Jobs Streak and the weak job growth that we have been seeing. While the rest of the media is focused on the snapshot that is provided each month this writer is looking for trends. The best way to identify trends to to step back and take a look at the big picture.  This column was first  created when a meme was run showing that President Obama had created more jobs than President Bush. They were comparing President Obama at that point and time with President Bush at the end of his term. We needed to compare apples to apples at the 81 month mark.

How is President Obama doing compared to Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush at the 91 month mark?

President Reagan had added 18.6 Million Jobs for 15.7 Million New Workers. President Reagan had added 17.276 million full-time jobs and 1.322 million part-time jobs by August of his last year. This means that he added 204,000 jobs every month, on average, for 91 months even after adopting a recession and experiencing a second one during his first term in office. He added more jobs than workers (204,000 versus 173,000)

President Clinton had added 19.852 Million jobs for 18.954 million workers. Another President who added more jobs than workers. Almost all of the jobs that President Clinton Added were full-time jobs. He added 19.852 million full-time jobs and 428,000 part-time jobs. He added 223,000 jobs a month while adding 208,000 workers a month.

President Bush Added 9.186 million jobs for 20.219 Million Workers. President Bush also adopted a recession at the beginning of his term in office and was in the midst of the Great Recession as he was leaving office.He managed to add 107,000 jobs per month and 222,000 workers a month during his first 91 months in office.

President Obama is the only President to add Full-time jobs and lose part-time jobs at the 91 month mark. President Obama has added12.077 million full-time jobs since taking office and lost 709,000 part-time jobs over the same period of time. We lost  over 1 million part-time jobs during the month of August. This means that he has added 11.368 million jobs for 19.115 million worker, or 124,000 jobs a month for 210,000 workers a month.We need more than 200,000 jobs a month to have what is considered a "healthy economy."

There are More Unemployed Workers Under President Obama than under Presidents Reagan or Clinton.  Right now, at the 91 month mark there are 7.996 Million Unemployed workers in the economy. There were only 6.659 million unemployed workers under President Reagan and 5.863 million under President Clinton. After months of having consistently more unemployed workers than Reagan, Clinton, or Bush, President Obama has moved from last place to third place in the unemployment number, or has he? We will find out  last that he has not.