>Professor Krueger suggests that the increase in opioid prescriptions could account for about 20 percent of the decline in men’s labor-force participation from

>Professor Krueger suggests that the increase in opioid prescriptions could account for about 20 percent of the decline in men’s labor-force participation from 1999 to 2015, and 25 percent of the observed decline in women’s labor-force participation. It seems likely that lack of work and resulting depression would drive drug use as well. Depressed people often "self medicate".