https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/15/powell-labor-force/
Many people are quick to point fingers at welfare programs for people choosing not to work and dropping out of the labor force. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell seems to think that that's not the issue. For one, many of the U.S.'s programs that help those in poverty require that those who receive aid must be working or actively seeking a job. Secondly, in real terms, the amount of aid that people have been receiving has pretty steadily declined. Presumably, if these accusations were to hold true, people would be more likely to seek work if their benefits were going down. Instead, the opposite is happening and benefits are going down at the same time as the labor force participation rate slacking. The real problem, according to Powell, are education and the opioid crisis.
As education becomes harder for many people to attain, whether they are getting priced out of higher education or not receiving proper help in under-funded public schools, they are less likely to find work. Since jobs are increasingly likely to require some sort of college degree, those who don't make it past high school are out of luck and may become discouraged enough to stop seeking work. The raging opioid crisis doesn't help as more people become dependent on drugs and find it harder to maintain a career. Powell claims that boosting the labor force participation rate is a top national priority.
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