America’s opioid epidemic is exacting a massive human toll that also is impacting the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday. “From an economic standpoint, some high percentage of prime-age people who are not in the labor force, particularly prime-age males who are not in the labor force, are taking painkillers of some kind,” he said.

Powell cited research from Princeton economist Alan Krueger, who conducted a survey and found that 44 percent of men reported that they had taken some form of pain medication the previous day.