Noah Smith, Columnist

Another Reason to Fight Opioid Addiction: Economics

Painkiller abuse keeps people from working. Think about the low U.S. labor-participation rate.

March 3, 2017 at 12:30 PM UTC

Corrected

March 3, 2017 at 4:59 PM UTC

Noah Smith is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion.

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One of the worst U.S. social problems might also be one of its chief economic woes. I’m talking about the epidemic of opioid and opiate abuse.

While unemployment is low in the U.S., labor-force participation is also low. Lots of people who are of working age are choosing not to work: