We now have record numbers of people in work, falling unemployment and wages rising faster than inflation.
These labour-markets shifts are the main reason to be pessimistic about America's potential output growth.So why is the proportion of Americans who work falling?
Its prediction underlines the biggest puzzle to emerge from the protracted downturn: Why, when the economy is flatlining, is the number of people out of work falling?
The ONS said both sub-sectors of construction contributed to the monthly drop with new work falling 3.9% and repair & maintenance by 4.2%.
The ONS data also showed that youth unemployment improved, with the number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work falling below a million in the three months to August, down 62,000 compared with March to May.
However, the reality of today's eurozone is far too many people out of work, falling internal demand, increasing polarisation within societies – and a yawning chasm dividing relatively prosperous core countries from a periphery destined for depression.
