Employment-to-Population Ratio Fell

Maybe the only way for Bush to spin the employment report is to mention that the unemployment rate stayed at 5.4%. But this is because the civilian labor force fell by 221,000 as the household survey of employment fell by 201,000. The labor force participation rate fell to 65.9 percent and the employment-to-population ratio fell to 62.3%. By contrast, the employment-to-population ratio was 64.4% when Bush took office.