Hot take, but I don’t think it should recover. If anything, I think a combination of low unemployment, higher wages, and a labor force participation rate of ~45-55% would be a sweet spot to aim for:

* It would indicate more single income households able to make ends meet and live higher quality lives

* It would suggest more stay-at-home parents to rear children, which is only possible in a safe and stable economic environment

* It’d also suggest a higher amount of community engagement, rather than mere working and resting.

* A rise in successful single-income households would also suggest improvements in cost of living affordability

In our current world, where we expect both parents to work full-time jobs to survive (because the cost of everything assumes a married couple employed full-time, especially in cities), this number is bad; in a healthier society, it might be a good thing.

I’d argue in favor of deflating costs or raising wages instead of increasing labor force participation, but that’s my personal soapbox.

I love this vision. What do you think might be required to make it real?