Where are the Missing Five Million Workers?

by Laura Flanders

 

"Where have all the workers gone?" David Wessel of the Wall St. Journal wondered about the labor force this week:

 “In the past two years, the number of people in the U.S. who are older than 16 (and not in the military or prison) has grown by 5.4 million. The number of people working or looking for work hasn't grown at all.”

So, where have all the workers gone? Have they retired, suspended their labors temporarily, or are they languishing on public assistance? Asks Wessel.