If you look at the posted chart (second post) from Shadowstats.com you will see three measures of un-employment. The headline number U(1), the number including discouraged workers U(6), and the most likely real number – calculated in the same manner it was before the Clinton era downward changes.
The plight of a discouraged worker can be viewed in a number of ways – just too lazy to look, or having sent out thousands of resumes for many months, just sees the futility in continuing to look.
Any way you cut it, I cannot believe that the labor force is shrinking faster than jobs are being lost.