Unemployment rate up to 27.1% in Q2:2020 from 23.1% in Q3:2018. Not as bad as expected on the surface, but the situation is much worse. Underemployment up to 28.6% from 20.1%.

Labour force population fell to 80.3 million from 90.5 million in Q3:2018. Why?
It means a lot of people of employment age have decided not to work. Labour force participation fell to 39% in Q2:2020 from 46.1% in Q3:2018. What are they doing?
What is the biggest driver of this? The number of people without tertiary education in the labour force has fallen from 75.9 million and 83.9% of total labour force to 64.6 million and 80.4%.
Digging further, it's worrying. The number of youth (15-34) in the labour force fell to 40 million from 44.2 million as at Q3:2018. Maybe some went to school or did other things? But the number of older people (35-64) declined most at 40.3 million from 46.2 million.
Obviously the population of these age groups most have grown. The question is what are these older and younger people doing if they are not available for work?
Men! Men are not working as much again? The number of men in the labour force fell to 41.7 million in Q2:2020 from 49.8 million in Q3:2020. What are men doing these days? The number of women fell but not as much as men. Men accounted for 80% of the reduction in the labour force.
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