It’s the Friday before a three day weekend and my assistant just left on a two week vacation. I am left with a decision to make; do I work or do I play? I sit here with my arms folded, looking out my window at the mountains just like the guy in the calendar on the back of my office door (pictured above) and contemplate my decision.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor’s Jobs Report that was released this morning shows that the Unemployment Rate dropped to 5.1%, which is the lowest level since 2008. At first glance it appears that 95% of Americans are hard at work; that’s inspiring. Scroll down a little further and it states that the Labor Force Participation Rate is only 62.6%–a 38 year low. You’d have to go back to the bicentennial–to a time when this hiker’s shorts were made–to see a smaller percentage of Americans gainfully employed. So maybe I am just grateful to have a job and I should stick it out. Another insightful tidbit from the BLS shows that the average hours worked per week in this country is only 34.6. Thirty-four hours? For the whole week? So what the government is telling me is that by being here in the office at 10:00 in the morning on a Friday, I am already above average. I am already getting like a B+ on my work week. I can live with a B+ for one week. Maybe I don’t feel so bad about knocking off early. Now where does a guy find some shorts?
