Some people are tenacious. Those who spend their lives looking for Bigfoot or Nessie (the affectionate nickname for the Loch Ness monster) are a great example. For most of us, though, a fruitless quest will eventually be abandoned as a waste of time. Unfortunately, for an ever-increasing number of Americans, looking for a job has become a lot like looking for Bigfoot, and each year, a smaller percentage of people remain in the hunt. The relevant statistic here is what’s known as the “labor force participation rate.” Basically, you take the people age 16 and older in a given geographic area (such as Idaho) and you calculate what percentage of that group is employed. This metric differs from the unemployment rate in a very important way—unemployment is based only on those individuals who are classified as looking for work. Those who have stopped or given up aren’t counted/Parrish Miller, Idaho Freedom Foundation. More here.

Question: Do you know people who gave up looking for a job?