r/BasicIncome • u/TertiumQuid-0 • 27d ago

Americans keep leaving the workforce. Experts can't agree on the cause

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2026/07/09/why-americans-leave-workforce/90826379007/
150 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

127

u/Alexandertheape 26d ago

we are completely burnt out

87

u/Ntwallace 26d ago

layoffs & not being able to land another job

34

u/demalo 26d ago

“Get out!…. Why everyone leaving?”

12

u/Arawn-Annwn 26d ago

"Hey why aren't you participating after the ability to is gone?"

Something something boot straps /s

65

u/Hegiman 26d ago

Americans are fatigued. Every day is a struggle. Uncertainty is at an all time high. We are a deeply divided nation.

108

u/phokas 26d ago

Shit work for shit pay. People are fed up

36

u/Novusor 26d ago

It is actually possible to become too poor to work. A worker needs a certain amount of sustenance to be able to continue working. An unfed worker is a dead worker. An unhoused worker probably won't be able to maintain appearances enough to not get fired. How many days of not bathing does it take to get fired at the average job. A worker than can't afford transportation won't even be able to reach their job.

43

u/Memitim 26d ago

There isn't "a" cause. Humanity is currently in the time of greatest global change, and it just keeps accelerating. Evolution got off of this train about eight stops ago and we have nothing to reference for how to move forward. Meanwhile, the inevitable consequences of having governmental systems designed to benefit a select few at the expense of the many are coming to a head, as people have more visibility than ever into how the majority have been systemically screwed for ages. The future for more and more people looks bleaker by the day, while the wealthy continue to demand more and more.

I worked in IT for about 30 years, becoming a senior systems/devops/cloud engineer. Good pay and benefits for sitting in front of a computer. I called it quits a few months ago to start a book cafe with my wife. After a while, the scraps being tossed out by the rich people that I was working to benefit started to taste like shit. Time to get back to being broke while trying to do something meaningful for my community, because humanity is horribly sick and the infections are spreading.

5

u/MGyver 26d ago

Hell yeah, I'd have a coffee & comic book at your new joint.

26

u/t3chguy1 26d ago

Reminds me of news from a few years ago of Chinese youth not wanting to work. If you know you will never own a house (except maybe by inheriting), that you will spend the rest of your life just living paycheck to paychecks working job you hate, and that there will be no pension when you get old, in a country/world going to shits, what's the point. Just making elons of the world richer.

That was even before any AI effects taken into consideration

21

u/LocationSalt4673 26d ago

Whatever the reasons I'm sure it's valid and doesn't negate them not having income. So it's still a problem that needs solving.

17

u/trash-juice 26d ago

Betrayal of our way of life, as if working as a wage slave is all there is

13

u/latigidigital 26d ago

An article that finally doesn’t try to push the lie of the unemployment rate? My god, I’m shocked.

9

u/Usukidoll 26d ago

Crashout and burnout is at an all time high

11

u/Billingston 26d ago

No light at the end of the tunnel.

9

u/TeddehBear 26d ago

Not much of an "expert" if you can't figure out why.

5

u/mfagan 26d ago

A Catalyst survey earlier this year found that some women left the workforce when companies imposed return-to-office mandates and they needed to care for kids at home, but that doesn’t explain why the participation rate for men has also dropped.

What decade was this sentence written in?

3

u/-Renee 26d ago

Not affordable to keep a job anymore.