Indeed it's complicated, but BLS does count them as "discouraged": https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/persons-not-in-the-labor-force-selected-indi

Indeed it's complicated, but BLS does count them as "discouraged": https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/persons-not-in-the-labor-force-selected-indicators.htm https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/persons-not-... https://www.bls.gov/cps/lfcharacteristics.htm#discouraged https://www.bls.gov/cps/lfcharacteristics.htm#discouraged BLS may not be perfect but they're not idiots and it's wildly better than other countries.