‘Help Wanted’ signs are a common sight in towns and cities across the country. According to conventional wisdom, the shortage of workers (aka “missing workers”) is due to older workers, after enjoying outsized gains in their stock portfolios and real-estate holdings, exiting the workforce. However, a deeper look into labor force data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows this isn’t exactly the case. For example, for those ages 62-70, 37.4% were employed in January 2020. That percentage dipped to 30% in April 2020 but rebounded to 36% in January 2022. Similar calculations are done for each age group, shown below. It turns out that the age group contributing most to the “missing workers” total is actually the 15-34 age group. That group alone accounts for 42% of the “missing workers” total. (Chart by Marketwatch.com)
Jeffrey Cerny