14 Million Fewer People In Workforce Than When Obama Took Office

If wages are up and unemployment is so low, why are so many people not feeling euphoric?

Unemployment, according to the Department of Labor on Friday, is a mere 4.9%.
On top of that, according to NPR, “hourly earnings rose 10 cents over last month, a higher increase than anticipated.” In total, wages are up 2.8 percent year over year.

Yet, despite this seemingly good news, the official statistics don’t seem to be producing enough euphoria to convince the American electorate that things are all “hunky dory.”
This may be why.
In January 2009, when Barack Obama was sworn in as President, the U.S. was in a deep recession.
According to CNSNews, when President Obama took office in January 2009, 80,529,000 Americans were not in the labor force.

As of Friday, however, that number is 94,609,000—425,000 more than last month’s 94,184,000 Americans who were not in the labor force.
In other words, although the Department of Labor’s unemployment rate is 4.9%, there are more than 14 million fewer Americans not in the labor force than when Barack Obama took office.
Further, the “real” unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.7%, according to Gallup.