How are they disenfranchised?
Our government does not consider them worth counting or worrying about.
Then perhaps you should look up the word "disenfranchised." It means deprived of rights of citizenship, usually the right to vote. I'm pretty sure that's not what you meant.
And yes, they are counted, where else did you get the number from? From the
Employment Situation Report
Table A-1: As of June the Adult Civilian Non-Institutional Population (16 years and older, not in prision, the military, or a mental institute) was 237,690,000. 139,882,000 were Employed, 14,885,000 were Unemployed (not working but looking and available for work). 82,923,000 were not working and not looking and/or not available for work. 6,461,000 said they wanted a job.
Turning to Table A-16 we see that of those 6,461,000 who said they wanted a job, 2,591,000 had looked sometime in the last 12 months, and were available to work, but weren't currently looking. There's no way to tell exactly why...some had looked and then went back to school? Some got pregnant? Some had childcare issues, transportation issues, sick relative, illness, jail time, whatever, and have not looked in the last month. We can't tell. What we do know is that of those 2,591,000 people, only 1,207,000, less than half, say it was because of economic conditions...they don't think they'll be able to find a job. Now that is a high number, but it's a very small percentage of all those not working.
So, tell me again how they're not counted when I just showed you that they are. And please point out how they're not allowed to vote or what other rights of citizenship they don't have.
