Where Have All the Workers Gone?

Labor force participation has fallen dramatically during this recessionary period, to levels last seen 30 years ago. There are questions as to who these workers are, where have they gone, will they come back, is this drop due to the cyclical nature of a business cycle slide or is there something more structural going on in the economy? This is a nice article by the Richmond Federal Reserve speaking to this issue. Keep in mind that this evaluation is looking to the United States as a whole. Utah’s demographics are different than the nations’, and so our situation may not match their speculation. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond