The drop in the unemployment rate in August isn't particularly
good news for the economy -- it's driven mostly by nearly
400,000 people dropping out of the labor force, rather than more
people finding jobs. But those dropping out aren't so much the
discouraged 30-, 40- or 50-year olds. In fact, the Labor
Department said there was a modest decline in the overall number
of discouraged job seekers. The drop is because so many young
adults, aged 16 to 24, are no longer looking for work. There
were 453,000 fewer young adults with jobs in August than in
July. But despite that plunge, only 27,000 more young people
were looking for new jobs. Most, apparently stopped looking and
left the labor force. And those numbers take into account
seasonal factors such as younger workers returning to school. As
a result, the percentage of young people who are counted in the
labor force fell to its lowest level since 1955. The
unemployment rate for young adults rose to 16.8 percent from
16.4 percent in July. "I don't think they're