Must-Read: Elizabeth Jacobs: The Declining Labor Force Participation Rate: Causes, Consequences, and the Path Forward

Must-Read: Elizabeth Jacobs: The Declining Labor Force Participation Rate: Causes, Consequences, and the Path Forward: “It is important to avoid being distracted by policies that have little to do with the trends in the labor force participation rate…

…Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI, for example, has been cited as a program that reduces the participation rate by discouraging work…. But studies suggest that the increase in the number of Americans receiving SSDI may be a simple matter of demographics…. Controlling for the aging of the population the rate for men has been on the decline for the last 20 years. At the same time, the age-adjusted rate for women has increased, but to a level similar to the age-adjusted rate for men…. Similarly, the Affordable Care Act has been cited as a program that could reduce the labor force participation rate and depress overall labor supply… [but] those effects generally reflect a positive outcome for workers.