As the United States emerges from the Great Recession and the unemployment rate continues in a generally downward direction, some critics of the economic policies of the White House point out that there's a bigger number out there that's not being reported - the underemployed and the people who have given up looking for work.

Recently, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) appeared in a nationally televised interview and stressed that the participation rate in the labor force is the lowest since the late 1970's, and that 92 million Americans are not working.  Cruz said this:

"I think we're facing enormous challenges in this country. The Obama economy has led to the lowest labor force participation since 1978. Ninety-two million Americans aren't working. Obamacare is a train wreck. We're seeing our constitutional rights under assault. And abroad the Obama-Clinton-Kerry foreign policy is an unmitigated disaster. Leading from behind doesn't work."

Our partners at PolitiFact had previously checked Cruz's claim about the labor force participation rate, and found that it was MOSTLY TRUE.  This time around, PolitiFact took a look at the number that Cruz had added to his statement: 92 million Americans who aren't working.  PolitiFact reporter Joshua Gillin says that Cruz's claim rates MOSTLY FALSE on the Truth-O-Meter.

"Sen. Cruz is using numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the numbers do say that we're at a historic high when it comes to the labor participation rate," said Gillin.  "However, the 92 million number is really off the charts.  Cruz is implying that 92 million Americans are unemployed, but those numbers are including sections of the population that includes people over 65 who have retired, and students who are in high school and college."

Gillin says that when you take out those sections of the population, you're left with around 35 million Americans between 25 and 64 who aren't working.  "The other thing to keep in mind is that out of that 35 or so million people, there are people who are choosing not to work for various reasons," said Gillin.  "Because of that factor, even if you did have jobs available for everybody, some people would choose not to take them and you would never be at a labor participation rate of one hundred percent."

Cruz was basically right about the labor participation rate being at an all time low, but didn't come close when it came to the number of people out of work, which leads to a MOSTLY FALSE rating on PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter.

 

SOURCES: Are 92 million Americans not working?

  • PolitiFact ruling
  • Ted Cruz, interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Feb. 8, 2015
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey" (main index page), accessed Feb. 9, 2015
  • Email interview with Tara Sinclair, economist at George Washington University, Feb. 9, 2015