I know of five people who are no longer in the job market.
1) Retired/single. She is comfortable in her retirement, moved to Florida, but went back to work right before summer, because she was bored. She attended a job fair and thought she would just be dropping off her resume or applying. They interviewed and hired her on the spot. She had this past summer off, and the school holidays. She is content.
2) Retired/married. She was fed up with her work environment and COVID. Her husband has no plans of retiring.
3) Retired/Married. Both her and her husband retired in 2021.
4) Younger ex-coworker that I still stay in touch with. She is in her late 40's. Her husband was already retired, she retired this year. They moved to Mexico and rented a home for six months to see if they would like it. After six months they purchased a home and seem to be very happy.
5) younger ex-coworker/married also in her late 30's. Lost her job during COVID. She decided that she did not want to return to the work force. Opened up a business that sells specialty design food platters for parties and engagements. Named it after her young daughter.
There are many reasons why we have fewer people in the market. It can not be summed up by saying that people are living off the tax payer, lazy, or don't want to work. Although I am honest enough to admit that there will always be people that take advantage of of certain situations.