Also, if people don't participate and you actually have use for labor, that would drive the cost of labor up, not down. As it is, the vast majority of labor sk

Also, if people don't participate and you actually have use for labor, that would drive the cost of labor up, not down. As it is, the vast majority of labor skirts the minimum wage because nobody wants people to do anything anymore. The utility of a fleshy meatbag is at all time lows, and will only continue to decline as we carve chunks out of the labor market through automation. It is also unreasonable to expect an entire generation to work in the very limited purview of STEM. Enough people just do not have the mindset for it and it is already hurting the overall quality of engineering how market forces are pushing people ill suited for such professions into them for survivals sake. The only reasonable answer is the recognition that, for most of our population, we have nothing productive for them to do, but they should not be punished for being unemployable when it is through no fault of their own. It is our job to raise and educate and mold them better to get a higher yield of analytic minds, but those who do not acquire the skills at the early ages when they form cannot be condemned to a life of poverty for something out of their adult control.