We found the 'missing workers'

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Millions of people opted out of the labor force during the pandemic, and the Federal Reserve's most recent update on the economy explains why. Today, we hear from people who made that decision to leave the workforce.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:07.0	This is the indicator for Plata Money.
0:13.4	I'm Adrian Ma.
0:14.4	I'm Whalen Wong, and it is another hot jobs Friday.
0:19.2	The February numbers came in more than expected, with the economy adding 311,000 jobs.
0:25.3	Unemployment ticked up a little bit to 3.6%, but it's still historically low.
0:30.2	So yeah, it's hot, Adrian.
0:31.8	And speaking of hot, the chair of the Federal Reserve, Drone Powell, was in the hot seat
0:37.3	this week, giving Congress an update on the economy and this tight, tightly labor market
0:42.0	market.
0:43.0	Clearly, the economy is calling for more people, with essentially two job openings for
0:46.9	every unemployed person.
0:48.3	The economy is calling for more workers, but there are not enough people answering that
0:53.5	call.
0:54.5	They're answering millions of people with their phones ringing, and they see caller ID that
0:58.6	says, Jerome Powell, and then they just let it go to voicemail.
1:01.5	Yeah, they're not picking up.
1:04.7	According to the Fed, there are 3.5 million people they expected to be working or looking
1:09.9	for work based on pre-pandemic trends, but who are just not there?
1:13.6	Yeah, and why are these workers not there?
1:16.9	I mean, we have been asking this question for months and months, right?
1:20.3	The new thing is this, recently the Fed came out with a report which gives the best take
	...

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