There is no guarantee for anything. That is not a reason not to try.

There is literally nothing better to do with your life than try. So just try.

This is the same kind of "advice" depressed people get. "Have you tried getting better"? "You just need to be happy". "Try my coping mechanism". "See a standup comedian". "Just try".

I hope I don't have to go through all the reasons this is fundamentally disconnected from the problem described in the article now.

Thanks, but this gives me nothing actionable. What am I supposed to do with this? Just be depressed?

What's your alternative?

Professional therapy.

what if that doesn't work?

I'm not prepared for this hypothetical, who knows what I would do, I guess I might even launch a startup.

this comment is what a lifetime of philosophical thought, traveling, psychedelics, meditation, and experimentation has led me to as well.

"there is literally nothing better to do with your life than try. so just try."

The issue though is that a lot of the people mentioned in the original article don't think trying is worthwhile. So advice to "just try" is always going to fall short.

As advice it also ignores the structural issues that make trying easier and harder for various people. One way of encouraging people to try is to break down the real barriers that exists and make it harder for them than others.

Your advice is for a problem which is different from that in the article and the larger Macro scenario.

People ARE trying. Its not really a good strategy as it gets no where. Its only a better strategy than not trying, as not trying gets you to being a depressing statistic, like joblessness in erstwhile manufacturing hubs.

So what's the alternative? Give up and cry before even trying?

Knowing that you might fail and flame out is the definiton of risk; you do it because the upside is worth it

Obviously the people who drop out of the labor force don't think the upside is worth it.

Otherwise they'd be out there, looking for work. Instead of dismissing the possibility that they act in their rational self interest, perhaps you can study how the actual risk/reward ratio evolved for these people over the course of the last few decades.

But that would be quite a bit harder than giving self-help advice on the internets.

Okay, but you still haven't presented me with an alternative.

The point is you need to qualify by trying first.

"There is no point in trying, because you will fail" kind of attitude prevents you from trying at the first place.

There is one reason to be assured of failure, which is by doing nothing at all.