If you look at the unemployment rate, it seems like the job market fully recovered from the recession in 2020. But after each recession many prime age men, age 25 to 54, leave the labor force and don't come back. The hope is this time would be different because the economic recovery and the labor market recovery was very strong, and featured significant wage gains. But the figure below shows some men are not returning to work. The drop in participation was smaller than previous recessions, but some men are still not working or looking for work. If there is a recession next year, as some economists expect, odds more men will be alienated from the economy.
Source: FRED
Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter here.
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