Widespread Substance Abuse Exacerbates Nationwide Worker Shortage: Study
The National Bureau of Economic Research reports that between 9 percent and 26 percent of the decline in U.S. workforce participation among people aged 25 to 34, is probably due to a rise in dependency in substances like opioids and methamphetamines.
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A new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has found that between 9 percent and 26 percent of the decline in U.S. workforce participation between February 2020 and January 2022, among people aged 25 to 34, is probably due to a rise in dependency on substances like opioids and methamphetamines, reports Axios.
While labor force participation has increased to just half a percentage point below pre-pandemic levels, 18 percent to 52 percent of that remaining shortfall could be from those struggling with substance abuse.
Prior research shows that opioid users’ labor force participation rate is 13 percentage points lower than the rate for nonusers, and for methamphetamine users, it’s 16 points lower. A surge in opioid abuse dating back to the early 2000s was already keeping an increasing number of prime-age workers out of the labor force. The pandemic worsened the situation.
