The pinnacle in this metric was reached in the first four months of the year 2000 at the level of 67.3 percent. Data viewable here.
This is a picture of a society which has lost its driver for jobs.
That driver was debt, mostly in the form of housing. Then government decided under Bill Clinton, Phil Gramm and Newt Gingrich to let you extract the built up capital in housing, skimming the operation like a casino operation.
It was fun while it lasted! At least the Japs had savings to get them through.
Now it's just beans and rice, and rice and beans.
If we had some beans.
If we had some rice.
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Since this is trending on Dec 13, 2021, here's the latest chart showing the 2020 average for CIVPART at 61.7%, a level last seen round about 1976. Things have only gotten worse. The level in Nov 2021 is 61.8%. I include a chart for the sputtering debt engine as well.
We had beans and rice tonight, by the way.
