Shocking 105 million Americans are not working – more than during COVID or the Great Recession

Key Points:

• In June, the number of Americans "not in the labor force" (NILF) reached a record 105.8 million, with 832,000 workers dropping out that month alone, surpassing levels seen during the Great Recession and COVID pandemic.
• A significant portion of NILFs includes retirees (up to 50%), long-term illness or disability beneficiaries (over 23.3 million), and discouraged workers who have stopped seeking employment.
• Labor economist Nicholas Eberstadt highlights a troubling trend of prime-age men and an increasing number of women voluntarily leaving the workforce, with millions neither working nor seeking work despite being fit and healthy.
• Unlike aging populations in Europe and Japan, where workforce participation is rising, the U.S. faces unique challenges partly due to fragmented disability programs that obscure the true extent of benefit dependency.
• Eberstadt warns that implementing universal basic income (UBI) amid AI-driven job disruptions could exacerbate labor force dropouts, leading to increased social disengagement and potential rises in "deaths of despair."