>So did unemployment figures rise
>
>I am saying that the labor force participation rate fell dramatically. That is one thing that you need to take into consideration when discussing TRUE unemployment numbers. You must also consider the fact that when you stop getting unemployment compensation and go on to disability or welfare, you are no longer considered to be unemployed.
>

Not sure how you define dramatically, but this page (http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000) says that it dropped from a (local?) high of a little over 66% in January, 2007 to a (local?) low between 62 and 63% sometime in 2015, and is now rising a little. If you look at the page, be aware that the graph at the top is misleading because it doesn't start the Y-axis at 0.

Tamar