NPR

How The Opioid Crisis Is Depressing America's Labor Force

The U.S. lags behind other countries in workforce participation because more opioids are prescribed in this country, says a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

It's been a decade since the financial crisis drove up the unemployment rate in the U.S. and forced people in the prime of their careers to give up looking for work.

Even today, as employers add jobs at a furious pace, the workforce participation rate still hasn't recovered. And now researchers think they

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