Premie Retirees

"I'm gone. Don't try to find me. You won't. I'm on strike."
--Ellis Wyatt (Atlas Shrugged: Part 1)

This article suggests that the pandemic taught many people, especially young ones, that work doesn't pay. It is better to stay home and goof off rather than to toil one's life away.

Makes sense when the government was sending stimulus checks that paid people to stay home--given axiomatic aversion to labor that steers human behavior. However, it doesn't explain how those young non-workers will continue to not work once the stimmy checks dry up.

That said, it is entirely possible that an older, yet still capable cohort has indeed left the workforce for good as part of the Great Resignation. Many people approaching retirement age became disgusted with restrictive pandemic work policies, such as masking and mandatory vaccinations and hit the silk rather than deal with unpleasantries that conflicted with their principles.

Unlike younger workers, this cohort has a substantial nest egg that can be used to fund unexpected early retirement. Because they are still productive, premature retirees could always step back into the workforce if they change their minds, or if their budgetary situation changes.

Given the still-oppressive regulatory overhang governing many workplaces, however, many of these premies may be gone for good a la John Galt.