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Unemployment rate drops, labor participation rate drops as well

Posted on May 2nd, 2014 Read time: 1 minutes

The unemployment rate dropped from 6.7 to 6.3, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released May 2. Additionally, employers in April added a total of 288,000 employees to the workforce. Unemployment is the lowest it has been for five and a half years, NBC News reports. However, the reason for the drop is many have stopped looking for work. The labor force participation rate is 62.8 percent, the lowest since December 2013.

Many who left the labor force might have done better to have found occupations in the temporary services industry, instead, working for an employer of record. Such a job would have allowed them the freedom to choose when to work and what assignments to take.

Investor's Business Daily (IBD) looked at what is driving the slow growth in employment. According to the website's research, the Affordable Care Act, along with uncertainty about the economic climate, is causing trouble in the jobs sector. However, IBD also points out it is taking longer for the jobs market to recover after recessions hit. Beginning with the recession in 1981-1983, through the current jobs recession, each period has taken longer for jobs to come back.

A great way to look for jobs and still be employed is by becoming a temporary worker, which gives you the freedom to keep looking for work even as you gain job experience and earn a salary.

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