I see a lot of TV pundits trying to imply the latest decrease in the unemployment rate was a result of people leaving the workforce. In actuality, the opposite is true.
The data from Dec to Jan is not comparable since the BLS introduced population controls in the Jan data and does not adjust prior report data. In order to compare Dec to Jan you need to either apply the population controls to Dec, or remove the population controls from Jan. If you do this, in either case, the Dec to Jan change would show the participation rate increased slightly but effectively remained unchanged with rounding.
Consequently, the decrease in the unemployment rate was largely a result of the unemployed moving to the employed, with a slight increase in the participation rate where about 75,000 moved from "not in the labor force" to the "employed". The bottom line is there was a 631,000 person increase in the number of employed workers since the December report.
