Record 105 MILLION Americans not in workforce as economist warns of 'deaths of despair'

More than 105 million Americans are now officially outside the workforce, marking the highest number ever recorded and surpassing levels seen during both the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Recession.

New figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis show that 105.8 million Americans were classified as “not in the labor force” (NILF) in June after an additional 832,000 people exited the workforce in a single month. While the category includes retirees, students and others not seeking employment, economists warn the data also points to a growing number of working-age Americans simply giving up on work altogether.

Leading labor economist Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute described the trend as a “flight from work,” particularly among prime working-age men. “We’ve got a big problem with the flight from work of prime-age men,” he told the New York Post. “What’s been carrying the overall prime-age labor force participation has been the strong involvement of women, not men.”

According to the data, roughly 5.3 million Americans are classified as discouraged workers who have stopped looking for employment altogether. More than 23 million people outside the workforce receive long-term disability, illness or similar benefits, while retirees remain the single largest group, accounting for nearly half of all Americans not participating in the labor market.

The share of Americans participating in the workforce also fell to 59% in June, the lowest level since September 2021 as the country emerged from the pandemic, while aging societies such as Japan and many European countries have actually increased workforce participation in recent years. “These are the healthiest, best educated Americans that have ever lived on the planet,” Eberstadt said.

He warned against proposals for a universal basic income (UBI), arguing that paying healthy adults regardless of employment would accelerate workforce withdrawal as artificial intelligence reshapes the economy. “I would not like to see a guaranteed income,” Eberstadt said. “I look at how men who are neither working nor looking for work say they are spending their days now, and it is very depressing.”

Instead of engaging in work, volunteering or family responsibilities, he said many spend thousands of hours each year in front of screens, calling it “a great warm-up act for becoming a statistic in deaths of despair.”