As much as I am eager to celebrate the American economy coming back into the land of the living, I am also cautious about getting into the Conga line until I can look at some of the internal numbers associated with those who are striving to achieve the American dream. What is not often discussed by the pinheads on TV is that the level of participation in the labor force is perhaps as important as the actual number of people working. Though the number of Americans working is at all time high, the labor participation rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics remains an anemic 62.7 percent. Ten years ago, before the big economic meltdown, that rate was above 66 percent. Why does this matter? It matters because it means that to get back to the historic participation rate of just 10 years ago, an additional 8.7 million people need to come off the bench and get back in the game.