[MayanAstronaut]

Very true, every stat has issues.

Take payroll of population that this CEO thinks is a better metric. It totally ignores demographics of a aging population.

Baby-boomers are retiring, how a metric based CEO ignores this shows were the real bias is.

[shubb]

Uh, this metric is nuts, because it views anything that isn't 9-5 on a payroll as 'not a real job'. That ignores everything from independent contractors to seasonal work. These are huge components of the economy and always have been.

So what does a movement in the metric even mean? Does it mean that people are working less, or does it mean that more people are self employed? Or students longer?

I think wages are a more insightful way of estimating labor supply and demand. It's not great news:

"U.S. real (inflation adjusted) median household income was $51,939 in 2013 versus $51,759 in 2012, statistically unchanged. The 2011 level was $51,842 and the 2010 level was $52,646.

In 2013, real median household income was 8.0% lower than the 2007 pre-recession level of $56,436.[1]" (wikipediarite)