Yesterday the Federal Reserve said that they would leave interest rates near 0% for the foreseeable future, or until the unemployment rate drops to 6.5%.
At first glance it would seem this could take a while, given that we have not seen a number that low
since before the financial crisis.
The sad truth is that it may happen sooner than we think if the labor participation rate continues to drop. In October online slots the unemployment figure dropped from 7.9% to 7.7%, but it was mainly due to the fact that 350,000 workers disappeared from the workforce during the month.
We certainly hope to see the unemployment rate continue to drop, but for the right reasons, not because workers are MIA.