I was thinking about all these people “leaving the workforce.” Where did they all go? And...how are they surviving?
How many on welfare?
How many gone Galt?
A few months ago, June I think, more people went on disability than found jobs.
“The labor force declined by 350,000 and the labor force participation rate, a measure of potential workers, declined to 63.6, the same level as reported in September.”
The last time it was 63.5 was in 1979.
As already pointed out by others, many have gone on Disability, some are living more simply off a spouse's job, and a lot probably took early retirement.
The drop, though, represents a huge decrease in production and it's production that creates demand (can't buy something if you don't produce something.) The early retirees will also begin to draw down the national store of capital and that can only result in a drop in productivity and, therefore, wages.
Somehow, those people are surviving, but I don't know if we can. Actually, that's overstated. Of course, we'll survive; just not as comfortably as we could have.
As the Instapundit says: All is going according to plan.