41.   A potentially valuable labor force would be lost, and the economy, lacking consumers with money to spend, would sink into a deep recession.

42.   A slight rise in the jobless rate was caused by an expansion of the labor force.

43.   About half of the labor force lacks steady work, and production in the industrial and agricultural sectors has been declining.

44.   Adam Smith, the great advocate of market economies, nevertheless wrote that they needed government to educate the labor force, assure economic infrastructure and maintain public safety.

45.   Adding part-time workers and those who have not been paid for months to the jobless brings the numbers to about two-thirds of the labor force.

46.   Also, the strong yen and weak demand are forcing manufacturers to cut production and trim labor forces.

47.   But accelerating the schedule of shrinking the labor force will inevitably lead to disruption in services if it has to be carried out quickly.

48.   But Bernstein does take seriously a longer-term trend among low-wage workers, especially black men, toward leaving the labor force.

49.   But even optimists acknowledge that the gains will not stop the labor force from shrinking.

50.   But Ferrara said the low rate was largely the result of a very slow-growing labor force.