There's labor force participation and it is measured. It's just much more complex and can not really be understood as a single number - people can be out of wor

There's labor force participation and it is measured. It's just much more complex and can not really be understood as a single number - people can be out of workforce because they are retired, because they are sick, because they are wealthy, because they can't find work, because they are in prison, because they rely on somebody else to supply their income, etc. etc. Probably too complex for an average newspaper headline.