Similarly, the number of long-term unemployed has been “immensely high.”
On the other hand, a decline in the participation rate, or the proportion of working-age people who either have a job or are looking for one, may “flatten out for a time, as discouraged workers start moving back into the labor market,” she said.
Other measures include the rate of hiring and the quit rate. “The dial on virtually all of those things is moving in a direction of improvement,” she said.