US job growth reports have a problem

[rcjordan]

On average, 205,300 jobs need to be created every month just to keep up with population growth and not allow the unemployment situation to get worse.

_{http://www.businessinsider.com/the-job-market-is-getting-worse-because-of-population-growth-2016-8}

To be conservative, round that to 180-200k.

[Drastic]

That sounds pretty unreasonable, but if I pulled the right data here:

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001?output_view=net_1mth

It's actually not so bad.

[rcjordan]

>unreasonable

Yellen says over 100k but in the dozens of articles I've read over the last 6 or 7 years, I can't recall ever seeing anything below 150k. 

[rcjordan]

There's a disconnect somewhere...

In this article^{http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-gains-156000-jobs-in-august-but-unemployment-rate-edges-up-to-44-2017-09-01}:

headline: U.S. adds 156,000 jobs in August as unemployment rate edges higher

The U.S. have averaged 185,000 new jobs a month since June — more than twice as many as needed to put all the new people entering the labor force each month to work

.

If 90-100k are new people entering the labor force, why does 156k edge unemployment higher?

<added>
Only thing that comes to mind is oldsters clinging to their jobs.

[littleman]

>oldsters clinging to their jobs.

I see some doing it to keep the wheels turning, but I am also seeing a lot of age 70+ people doing it to get by these days -- lots of miserable looking seniors working in big-box stores and other low skilled jobs.

[rcjordan]

The median savings for families whose wage earners are between 50 and 55 years old is only $8,000. For those who are between 56 and 61, it's $17,000, reports the Economic Policy Institute.

^{https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/13/heres-how-many-americans-have-nothing-at-all-saved-for-retirement.html}