About the drop in labor force participation: it's not all retirement
April 16, 2013
"Graph: Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate - 25 to 54 years".
And see this: "It’s all about supply and demand, not just demand".
Of the nearly nine million former workers receiving federal disability payments, more than 2.5 million are in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
“It is difficult to overstate the role that the SSDI program plays in discouraging” employment among these young people, Messrs. Autor and Duggan said in one of their research papers, urging reform.