Thread by @JedKolko

The Friday afternoon labor market chart:
Why aren't people working?

Health reasons are high but dropping.
Temporary business slowdowns also dropping.
Retirements are up.
Caregiving hasn't budged.

More details follow ...

1/

Health reasons include being sick with coronavirus symptoms, worried about getting or spreading the virus, and sick/disabled for other reasons.

This peaked in the December/January virus wave and has thankfully come down ... and hopefully will continue to.

2/

Temporary business slowdowns include employer reductions in business, furloughs, or employer temporarily closed.

These, too, are dropping as more businesses reopen and ramp up.

3/

Caregiving includes caring for children, elders, or people w/ coronavirus symptoms. Most responses were about caregiving for children not in school/daycare. This remains stubbornly high.

Even as health reasons and temporary closures have dropped, caregiving burdens persist.

4/

Retirements are up. Both the level and increase are primarily among age 55-64.

The share of 55-64 year olds who are not working because they retired rose from 12% in August 2020 to 16% in March 2021.

5/

These are based on the @uscensusbureau Household Pulse survey. Big thanks to @urbaninstitute for their public microdata files and documentation, and @aaronsojourner and @nick_bunker for helpful suggestions.

6/

Note that UI benefits were not given as an answer option to the question of main reason for not working.

Good news: April responses are scheduled to come out next week! Stay tuned!

And please let me know any errors or fishiness. My first time using these data.

7/end