labor force

These and other alternative data sources have their drawbacks—they often only cover a small share of the labor force and using them to estimate the state of the broader job market can be tricky.

Last year marks the second in a row where women lost ground to men, losing some income gains they have made after many years of slowly expanding their roles in the labor force.

The new industrialization of Silicon Valley, meanwhile, happened with nonunionized labor forces, whose own factories would close by the end of the 1980s.

But in an economy where women are responsible for half the labor force, and have been for 25 years, the solution isn’t as simple as undoing all of that.

Today’s absenteeism could mean labor force problems tomorrow.