Guess the Only State Where Less Than Half the People Work
15th January 2015
Overall, the labor participation rate in the United States has been tanking since 2000. So while the financial crisis plays a big role, especially among older workers who took buyouts and retired, it’s not the whole story. Neither is the general aging of the population, which tends to lower the participation rate.
Indeed, the real issue is the very long-term participation rate of men, which has been on the downslope for generations now.
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Disability claims skyrocketed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, not because more people were suddenly injured but because such a program represented a way to get money as unemployment and other benefits ran out.
And over the long haul, it’s become easier and easier to claim disability and effectively opt out of the work force (other well-meaing programs add to the trend too). For many people, work is effectively optional if they can scratch together a bare minimum of revenue from other sources. As the grandson of an Irish immigrant who quit working as soon as he could live off his wife’s and children’s earnings, I can recognize that impulse as a dark mirror of the American Dream.