Americans have always believed in pursuing physical Fitness. It’s a trend that goes back to Thomas Jefferson, who thought afternoons should be spent in outdoor activity and recreation. It’s an integral part of Jefferson’s daily routine:
“Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading,” said Jefferson.
Theodore Roosevelt was perhaps the most adamant in pursuing a “strenuous” life in the modern era. Harry Truman was a walker, John Kennedy a sailor, Dwight Eisenhower a golfer, and even the paraplegic Franklin Roosevelt swam.
Recent Presidents have continued this trend toward Fitness. It’s reported that President Obama enjoyed his time on the basketball court while Bill Clinton was a jogger, albeit mainly at McDonald’s. George Bush competed in a marathon shortly before being elected, while Ronald Reagan could be seen horseback riding in his mid-70s.
Presidents are the only ones who are fitness-oriented. A recent study by My Protein dot com indicates that Americans will spend more during their lifetime on Fitness than College Tuition. Between supplements, health-club memberships, and in-home fitness equipment, Americans will spend more than $111,000 on Fitness. That’s about $12,000 more than the cost of a college education.
Put all this together, making America the fittest nation on earth. Or at least we should be. But here’s where things get strange. If Americans are in tip-top shape, as you’d think they would be after spending all that time and money on Fitness, then why are so many staying home from work?
It’s a trend that began at the turn of the century, around the year 2,000. Suddenly a large number of the population elected to stay home rather than go to work. Now the Labor Department has two ways that they measure people who aren’t working, either as unemployed or those who have recently lost their jobs and are eligible to collect unemployment insurance.
Or as “Not In Labor Force,” those are all the remaining people who are not working. Currently, there are more than 6 million who are collecting unemployment insurance (the “unemployed), and nearly 100 million who are otherwise not at work (those not in the labor force). Combined, over 105 million people are not working because they elected not to work or were let go. That’s an incredible 38% of all eligible workers who, for whatever reason, are idled. Let’s think about that for a moment; these numbers suggest that our economy would be operating at a substantially higher rate (38% higher?) if these people would simply go to work.
While I’m sure that the reasons people don’t work are as many and varied as the individuals involved. But logically, we can infer several possible motives. First, the numbers may not accurately reflect a person’s employment status. The introduction of the “gig” economy, with people staying at home and “working,” may be a dimension that isn’t considered in these numbers.
Entrepreneurs generally are excluded from the employment count. I have had a couple of times when I didn’t receive a paycheck but was working on a new company or project that may not pay off for months or years. I’d like to think I was “working,” but the Labor Department wouldn’t.
But if this trend toward “not working” began at the turn of the century, it took another sharp jump immediately following the Covid19 Pandemic. It suggests that another trend has started in the labor force. Reports are now surfacing of the long-term effects of both Covid-19 and the Vaccine-associated with the disease. Many have reported suffering from so-called “long Covid,” feeling so ill that they cannot go to work. Others report similar symptoms from the Vaccine.
The White House reports that the number of excess deaths between March 5, 2020, and March 7, 2022, is more than 1.1 million.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/07/12/excess-mortality-during-the-pandemic-the-role-of-health-insurance/
No doubt, most of these deaths occur at the end of a long illness, an illness that would prohibit someone from working.
These excess deaths lead us to conclude that at least two long-term trends influence the Labor Market. The first is the new flexible ways in which people can enter and exit the traditional work environment, the so-called “gig” workplace of flexible working methods.
But the other trend, perhaps much more worrisome, is the increasing number of people who are so ill they cannot report to work. The number out of work reflects the number of excess deaths the nation is experiencing. Most of these deaths no doubt follow periods of illness that debilitate the worker.
Combine these trends, and it means that this economy is limping along with 166 million employed when at full employment, it would have 105 million more. How much more could we produce with 271 million at work?
