Just 64.2% of adults were either in a job or actively looking for one, representing the lowest participation rate in 25 years.

At the same link you will see evidence that the number is likely to decline. Some women are less eager to work, some men are quitting the search for work, and there is a general aging of the population. Fewer students work while they are in school. Here are further links to future projections. That’s hardly the end of work but one thing dramatic recessions can do is to reveal new pieces of information. By overturning the table, we (sometimes) see which pieces of the puzzle did not fit in the first place. 1 result of this recession is that we will revise downwards our estimate of the labor force participation rate, both current and future. A few questions are:

1. What is the political economy of a world where so few people work?
2. What kind of low-rent areas will evolve to accommodate some of these people?
3. Will we in fact move to some form of a guaranteed annual income?

Note that the answer to #2 will affect the feasibility of #3.

the comments are in denial. no suggestions of creating permanent disneylands to keep the unemployable happy.

Let’s say that the world is so wealthy that most people don’t need to work. Still they might be bored. They might want to work. What kinds of jobs could they buy? Under one view, the resulting jobs would always feel phony. The customers/laborers would never fear being fired. They would never have to try very hard, or could never feel that the enterprise really mattered. You might, for instance, buy a job as a blogger.

considering that technological change will get us there pretty quickly, the comments are pretty inane