Storm signals in job sector

Arise in the unemployment rate from 4.8% to 5% may appear to be statistical noise.

- Tirthankar Mitra

At first glance, it is a decimal-point movement that might seem more significant to economists than to the man in the street. But numbers rarely speak in isolation. More important than this small uptick is the company it keeps. It points to declining labour force participation and a lower share of the population actually at work.

The problem is not merely that a few more people are jobless. It is that fewer people are even trying to find work.