When Wisconsin reported its latest round of job numbers, the state had recorded a loss of 5,966 people employed between May and June but no change in unemployment rate.

(Technically, the unemployment rate did go down slightly, from 5.72 percent to 5.687 percent, but since those both round to 5.7 percent, there it stayed.)

Beyond rounding, there are no math tricks in play here. What is very much in play when it comes to unemployment rates across the country, however, is the shrinking number of people in the labor force.

As Wisconsin lost those 5,869 jobs between May and June, it also lost 7,399 people from the labor force, defined as civilians age 16 and over who are either employed or unemployed and looking for work in the last four weeks.

That lowered Wisconsin's labor force participation rate to 67.8 percent, its lowest level since April 1986.

The trend is similar nationally, and economists are debating whether the labor force decline is mostly due to a growing set of retirees, a growing number of people who have given up on finding a job or still a recession leftover.