1.8% Unemployment Rate for March. That is insane. (Birmingham: find a job, calculated)

[MinivanDriver]

The lowest rate for any major metro in the country. I remember when Birmingham was tied with Flint, Michigan, for the country's highest rate.



I guess people could nitpick at the margins, but overall speaking to a strong economy.



https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingh...ate=2023-05-05

[bhamblazer]

Very strong.

Labor force participation rate isn't available on a metro level, but isn't great for the state (well below the national average). Would help the economy even more to get some of those people off the sidelines and into the workforce.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by bhamblazer

Very strong.

Labor force participation rate isn't available on a metro level, but isn't great for the state (well below the national average). Would help the economy even more to get some of those people off the sidelines and into the workforce.

If I understand correctly, I think the Labor Force Participation rate could be low for a number of reasons from aging demographics to longer time in education to early retirement to women opting to not work outside the home.



However, given the fact that anyone able-bodied with a pulse can find a job in Birmingham right now, I don't think discouraged workers figure heavily into the mix.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

The lowest rate for any major metro in the country. I remember when Birmingham was tied with Flint, Michigan, for the country's highest rate.



I guess people could nitpick at the margins, but overall speaking to a strong economy.



https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingh...ate=2023-05-05

If you can't read the linked site (it has a paywall), the numbers are here so can be easily calculated: https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.al_birmingham_msa.htm

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

If you can't read the linked site (it has a paywall), the numbers are here so can be easily calculated: https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.al_birmingham_msa.htm

Yeah, thanks. I tried finding the metro's employment rate via the St. Louis Fed's impressive database, too. That typically measures everything in an MSA down to the number of olives preferred in martinis. But I couldn't find the MSA's employment rate.

[bhamblazer]

So a labor force of 566.7 thousand and an estimated metro population of 1,116 thousand gives us a labor force participation rate of 51%.

Am I doing that right? If so that's below the state rate of 56.7% and well below the national rate of 62.6%. If we were at least at the state rate, there would be 66k more people working in the metro. Think about how transformative that would be for the economy. It seems like the participation rate is what our leaders should be trying to tackle.

[Nemean]

Originally Posted by bhamblazer

So a labor force of 566.7 thousand and an estimated metro population of 1,116 thousand gives us a labor force participation rate of 51%.

Am I doing that right? If so that's below the state rate of 56.7% and well below the national rate of 62.6%. If we were at least at the state rate, there would be 66k more people working in the metro. Think about how transformative that would be for the economy. It seems like the participation rate is what our leaders should be trying to tackle.

I'd rather not count toddlers as people opting out of the workforce.

[bhamblazer]

Originally Posted by Nemean

I'd rather not count toddlers as people opting out of the workforce.

Agreed, but is labor force/total population not how you calculate the participation rate? If it is then children & retired people would be contemplated in the state and national numbers as well.

[bhamblazer]

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BIRM801NA

Some interesting data here. The chart of total employment in the MSA is a good indicator of the growth we've been seeing. The total employment of 558.5 in March 2023 is the highest of any month going back to January 1990 when the chart begins.

Jan 1990 = 427.7
March 2023 = 558.5

The metro also had 7,400 more people employed in March 2023 vs February 2020 before Covid.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by bhamblazer

Agreed, but is labor force/total population not how you calculate the participation rate? If it is then children & retired people would be contemplated in the state and national numbers as well.

Found the link:https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vaul...rate-explained


According to this website: "The labor force participation rate refers to the percentage of people age 16 and older who are in the labor force."