Drug abuse deaths are rising in the United States
The leading cause of death in the United States among citizens under 50 is drug abuse. Janet Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve, notes that the country’s highest economic authority believes substance abuse explains why the labor force is shrinking.
The discrepancy between job vacancies and the current pace of hiring is a subject of great debate. Yellen argues that the manufacturing industry is struggling to find applicants with the appropriate training to perform their roles. Another argument is that those who are trained do not relocate because wages are low.
Drug abuse is also linked to the aging of the population and the wave of retirements among the baby-boom generation. The US labor participation rate in June was around 62.8%, a level not seen since the 1970s.
The consequences of addiction go as far as distorting the downward unemployment figures. This rate stands at 4.4% because more people are leaving the workforce than entering it. Regarding this level, Yellen comments that it “reflects a wide variety of adverse trends such as technological advancement or the offshoring of middle-class jobs.”
The Chair of the Federal Reserve is known for having a special sensitivity toward social issues. She expressed to the Senate another reason why the participation rate is at the same level as three decades ago: the addiction of working-age youth to opioids.
On one hand, drug use causes young people to miss out on training by dropping out of their studies. On the other hand, addicts withdraw from the labor market. Finally, there is the high rate of suicides due to depression and overdose deaths. The epidemic, Yellen added, particularly hits communities that feel displaced and suffer from serious economic problems.
Statistics show that the increase in deaths is “extremely unusual.” It is estimated that opioids killed nearly 60,000 people last year in the USA. The Chair of the Federal Reserve supports creating training programs for those who feel displaced.
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