Stuff of possible interest

[JohnRoberts]

Yes, the Trump economy is putting his 98 million dropouts back to work. Too bad if they were retired, disabled, in school, or laying in a nursing home....
Seriously though, the increase from almost 81% to 82% is the first up tick in 4 yrs and a good sign - not surprising either as the unemployment rate of those actively searching dropped below 5%.. The argument that people retired or went on disability due to no decent work opportunity is interesting and we will see if it plays out in reality. Will disability numbers decrease now?

At the risk of sounding cruel, tighter criteria for disability entitlements might get some more back to work.

I won't report anecdotes I've heard of abuse locally.

Lets stay with the optimistic read, that people are feeling better about the economy.

JR 

 

[dmp]

At the risk of sounding cruel, tighter criteria for disability entitlements might get some more back to work.

It's not cruel to expect disability entitlements to be for actual disabilities, not as a substitution for unemployment running out.
But is the increase tied to the increase in obesity and other lower health metrics, or just tied to a worse labor market?