Labor Force Shrinks As More Jobless Sign Up For Disability

The civilian labor force shrank by 342,000 workers over the last month, remaining far below what it was when the economic “recovery” started nearly 3 years ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If the labor force had not declined, the unemployment rate would be 8.3% instead of the 8.1% now being reported.

This is the first time the labor force shrank in any recovery since World War 11.

The decline in the workforce combined with the growing population has pushed the labor force participation rate down to 63.6%. That’s down from 65.7% in mid-2009, and is the lowest since 1981.

The shrinking labor force masks the true unemployment numbers because people who stop looking for work are no longer counted as unemployed.

Many of those who’ve stopped looking for jobs have instead signed up for disability benefits.

More than 225,000 workers applied for Social Security disability benefits last month alone, and nearly 90,000 were enrolled, according to the Social Security Administration.

Nearly 1 million workers have already applied to get on the disability program so far this year, and more than a third will eventually be enrolled.

Investors.com reported recently, that more than 5 million workers and their families have enrolled in the disability program since Obama took office.

RFK Assassination Witness Says There Was Second Shooter

During an interview with CNN, Nina Rhodes-Hughes, a key witness to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968, said that convicted murderer Sirhan Sirhan did not act alone.

“What has to come out is that there was another shooter to my right,” said Rhodes-Hughes, she was feet away from RFK in a hotel service pantry during the shooting. ‘The truth has got to be told. No more cover-ups.”

Now 78, she says the FBI “twisted” her statements to investigators to make it appear that she said she had only heard 8 shots, an account that was used as evidence that Sirhan carried out the act alone.

With Sirhan’s legal team now revisiting the case, Rhodes-Hughes is coming forward with new information.

“I never said eight shots. I never, never said it,” she told CNN, accusing California Attorney General Kamala Harris of “parroting” the incorrect information on the original FBI report. “There were more than eight shots … There were at least 12, maybe 14. And I know there were because I heard the rhythm in my head.”

Read the entire interview and report from CNN.