In his Nov. 27 op-ed (“It is true. There are people who don’t want to work anymore”), Jim Nowlan tries to make the point that people are choosing not to work because of support systems in place to help the needy — in other words, that we’ve created a generation of slackers because of government handouts. One of the key metrics Nowlan uses to support his claim is that the labor force participation (LFP) rate is trending downward, from 67% in 2000 to 63% this year.
Using the LFP rate and cherry-picking the year 2000 for comparison are misleading. First, the year he chooses for comparison is 2000, which was conveniently the peak year for LFP. Secondly, the LFP rate is a better metric for understanding demographic trends than it is for judging employment. The LFP rate is the ratio of the workforce (those who are employed and those who are unemployed and looking for work) divided by the total employable workforce, or the number of Americans who are age 16 and older. The denominator therefore includes students and primary caregivers who are not working, as well as retirees.
As more women stay out of the workforce to care for children and as baby boomers retire in large numbers, the number not participating in the workforce increases and the LFP rate decreases. This doesn’t mean that fewer able-bodied people are working; just that the demographics are changing, including millions more retirees. Even with large numbers of retirees over the past decade, the participation rate of 63% has not changed from 2013.
It’s also misleading for Nowlan to say that 8 million more people would be employed today if the LFP rate were unchanged from 2000. In fact, there are about 30 million more people employed today than in 2000. With baby boomer retirees distorting the LFP rate, a better metric for gauging the participation rate would be to look at LFP for prime-age adults 25 to 54, which at about 83% is barely changed from 2000.
— Keith Dwyer, Crystal Lake
Op-ed feeds prejudice
I can assure Jim Nowlan, a former Illinois legislator, that his assertion in his op-ed about American workers that “‘two of the women are certified nursing assistants and work a few hours a month each at nursing homes” is an inaccurate statement. Rather, I am sure that they both work long, backbreaking hours. Further, that the “‘two seemingly able-bodied men are also on disability, for mental health and physical reasons, respectively” are legitimate recipients of any benefits they receive, which are often meager to survive on.
Having worked for more than 40 years, completing as part of my practice disability evaluations for the state of California, I found all individuals to be legitimate in their presentations and needs. Similarly, with the families of workers who originally came from the South to California to work in the shipyards in Richmond, California. Similarly, with the people I met in the California prisons where I also worked as a psychologist. Similarly, with the families in which children were removed due to their parents’ drug use. Constants were trauma, often intergenerational; poverty; lack of education; substance abuse; and mental illness associated with such.
Now, I work with young people in institutions who appear physically well but who are ill and unable to be in society for their own, and possibly others’, safety. The surface picture belies the reality of their ability to function.
We as a society need to pay attention to the needs of our people, and Nowlan’s op-ed only feeds into the political and sociological prejudice that leads to discrimination and ostracism. I never saw one person who was malingering or misusing an inadequate system of care; rather, I saw people whom novelists Charles Dickens and John Steinbeck exemplified in some of their works and who, in so doing, showed the process of how people’s lives turned out.
— Dr. Marne Trevisano, psychologist, Oak Park
The value of a work ethic
Regarding Jim Nowlan’s op-ed, I don’t want to work either! I am almost 74 and didn’t end my employment until I was in my late 60s. It was time to pass the baton to the younger generation. Before then, I started working at 14 due to financial necessity and continued to work throughout my life, though only part time in later years.
I read this op-ed in shock because everything I learned from early on was to view honest work as a part of life, something to consider an accomplishment and a way to improve my lifestyle. I instilled the desire in my children by setting this example and have had the privilege to watch them grow and prosper as they have advanced in their careers.
I also am not opposed to helping those in need, but I will never comprehend a lack of desire in people to not work. When did this become a “lifestyle”? Have we decided to forget that this country was built on hard work, labor, determination and grit? Yes, some jobs are not as desirable as the ones we read about in the news, but everyone must start somewhere. I learned how to deal with people from that job I had when I was 14, and that started me on the path to success; my children had similar experiences.
All legitimate work offers the opportunity to learn and develop skills.
— Anne E. Salter, Glenview
Op-ed recycles old trope
Jim Nowlan is entitled to his opinion. Too bad Nowlan has lazily recycled a trope that has been appearing in editorial and opinion pages for years. Newsweek compiled a list of the same complaint back in 2022. The New York Times said so in 2021. Fortunately, they took the time to remind us no one wants to work for low-wage jobs, especially since at the time, inflation was on the rise, caused by significant supply chain issues. (Remember those?)
Snopes did a dive on this subject last year regarding a number of comments posted between 1894 and 2022. The “nobody wants to work” comments were wrong then, and they’re wrong now.
Nowlan complains about a Dollar General store delaying its opening due to a lack of staffing and a nearby orchard unable to harvest, again due to a lack of workers. Has he forgotten that more than 1.1 million people in the U.S. have died as a result of COVID-19, and some of those who survived have not been able to return to work?
There are likely more out of the workforce who have chosen to care for disabled relatives. Also, I suggest Nowlan take a look at John Oliver’s recent episode of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” about the working conditions at Dollar General and Family Dollar stores. Then he should ask himself if he would work under the conditions revealed in that episode.
Finally, I would remind him the civilian unemployment rate was at 3.9% in October, as low as it has been since late October 2019. I guess people are working and are willing to work; they’re just not willing to work for starvation wages.
— Len Woelfel, Oswego
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