[sodpoodle]

Starting point - there are 320 million US residents.
73 million under 18 (students, kids)
48 million retirees
20 million Govt. employees (Fed, State & local)
1.5 million military
93 million unemployed.

My math may be screwed - but it seems there are only 54 million adults working for private companies (or self employed).

Don’t know if illegal immigrants count in these figures I found under census info.

[IYAS9YAS]

My math may be screwed - but it seems there are only 54 million adults working for private companies (or self employed).

More than likely there is overlap, as there are employed who also get paid these benefits. In some cases, a recipient could be in more than one group (thinking military family on bennies, on two different lists, but only one person paid), etc... If there truly were only 54 million paying into the system, it'd have broken a long time ago.

[george76]

102 Million not employed adults, if the BLS U-3 number is included..

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/06/federal-reserve-vice-chairman-says-economy-is-nearing-full-unemployment-real-unemployment-closer-to-42-9/

[Texas resident]

According to your numbers, only 26.4% have private sector jobs and are working.