Despite the nation’s unemployment rate dropping to its lowest level in 9 years, many have pointed to the decrease in labor participation as the root cause. As the labor participation rate decreases, less people are considered unemployed because they are not actively seeking for jobs. Focusing on the labor participation rate is problematic, as it faces downward pressure due to the aging population of baby boomers in the US. Chief US economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez, Joshua Shapiro, believes that these aging populations will push the participation rate down for years to come, which makes assessing the unemployment rate difficult. A proposed solution to combat the aging American population includes allowing younger immigrants into the country.
See "Focus on labor-participation drop is a losing battle", Shobhana Chandra, Chicago Tribune, December 9, 2016