[sillyquiet]

You know, I keep hearing the 'many stopped working during the recession' thing bandied about like received wisdom, and have not seen any statistics to back that up. Note: I am not saying it's not true, just that I personally haven't seen any studies or reports to back up that fact. Have you a link? All the U6 (real) unemployment rate numbers I've seen indicate 'real' unemployment is back to pre-recession numbers

[Kalium]

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000

There's this. This doesn't exactly back up the claim - there are a lot of reasons people might not be participating.

[HarryHirsch]

Especially this: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU01300060

25-54 year Labor Paticipation Rate is those that you'd expect to be working but aren't.

[JumpCrisscross]

The difference between the 25-54 and civilian participation rates are largely attributable to retiring boomers. Participation rates depend heavily on demographics. They matter for things like dependency ratios. But quoting them without the context of a large generation retiring and increasing time spent getting educated hides the full picture. That said, the 3 percentage point drop in 25-54 participation is largely attributable to the opioid crisis—that’s a disturbing start to a trend.

[mnm1]

How do you propose such statistics be collected if these people have given up and are no longer looking for a job and are no longer receiving unemployment benefits? I assume this is why the unemployment rate doesn't include these people and therefore doesn't ever reflect reality.

[sillyquiet]

I see. So you just feel like there are millions of such people, and don't have any actual facts to back that statement up.

And there is a statistic that does capture those kind of discouraged workers, it's the U6 unemployment rate. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080415/true-... And like I said, the U6 numbers do not reflect your original statement that millions of people gave up during the recession and have not worked since.