Source: https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm
Lots of US labor isn't laboring. Over one-third of the "labor" isn't laboring.
But The Hill is indeed "laboring" to present a picture devoid of actual reality. It's what the corrupt and the Left, Democrats and RINOs do.
One of the article's writers works at Schimdt Futures, whose website is copyrighted by Futures Action Network LLC. Interestingly, Futures Action Network is identified as a "FOREIGN LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY." (Tracing this further back, it is a UK entity, something that neither The Hill article nor Schmit identify.
Source: https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ny/5395357
Schimdt URL: https://www.schmidtfutures.com/
https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ny/5395357
"Foreign limited liability companies" are lobbying government, and "messgaing" through media their "foreign" aims.
I usually ignore the "non-participation" side of those figures. The civilian labor force in the U.S. is defined far too broadly -- because it is based only on a minimum age and factors such as imprisonment and institutionalization.
The biggest contributor to the declining labor force participation rate is RETIREMENT.
Someone who is 85 years old, doesn't live in a nursing home, and has been retired for 20+ years is considered a "non-working labor force participant" -- which is ludicrous.
The labor force participation rate represents the number of people in the labor force as a percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population. In other words, the participation rate is the percentage of the population that is either working or actively looking for work. The labor force participation rate is calculated as: (Labor Force ÷ Civilian Noninstitutional Population) x 100.
The civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and older is the base population group, or universe, used for Current Population Survey (CPS) statistics published by BLS.
The civilian noninstitutional population excludes the following:
- active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces
- people confined to, or living in, institutions or facilities such as prisons, jails, and other correctional institutions and detention centers, and residential care facilities such as skilled nursing homes
Included in the civilian noninstitutional population are citizens of foreign countries who reside in the United States but do not live on the premises of an embassy.
So the "civilian noninstitutional population" is actually even more meaningless than I thought. It includes elderly people not living in nursing homes, non-citizens, college students and even many high school students.