Civilian Labor Force "Participation Rate"

The "participation rate" refers to the number of people who are either employed or actively looking for work in relation to the civilian non-institution population of at least 16 years old.  Another measure that I use to measure overall employment strength is the "Civilian Employment Rate."  The civilian employment rate is similar to the participation rate with the exception that it excludes those individuals actively looking for employment.  In other words, the civilian employment rate only includes those individuals that do, indeed, have a job.  It current rate is at 58.6%.  The reason that I like the civilian employment rate over the participation rate series is due to the fact that it only includes those individuals that have a job, which, of course, are those individuals that pay "taxes" to support everyone that does not have a job!