Thread by @asymptosis

Thread:

Low unemployment.

But stagnant wage growth.

And low labor force participation rate (LFPR). Explain.

Workers have given up and accepted lower living standards. So departed the labor force.

"Screw it, we’ll just live on the edge. A shitty job with shitty wages won't make things better."

Hopes and expectations, dashed and betrayed. Aspirations, crushed.

The few(er) workers who do enter the labor force are desperate, their balance sheets (still) trashed from the GFC — the people and families who can’t scrape by any more.

Employers snap them up for a pittance.

Thanks, Reaganomics. “Shining city on the hill” lol.

In arid, sanitized economist-speak: offered wages are below their reservation wages, which might realistically deliver a better life for them and their families.