The estimations suggest that a permanent increase of 10 percentage points in the share of long-term unemployment in total unemployment results in a decline in participation of 0.6 percentage point in the specification without persistence effects and up to the double in the specification with lagged participation. Applied to the profile of long-term unemployment, long-term unemployment increases over the past decade could explain between 1.6 and 2.3 percentage points of the decline in participation. With the share of long-term unemployed in unemployment still above its pre-crisis level this suggests some possible future recovery in participation, albeit at a slow pace. Moreover, given the different regional situations, the recovery is likely to be very uneven across the United States. The evolution of educational attainment does not seem to play a role, although this may reflect two conflicting forces, with longer enrolment reducing labour force participation of the younger cohort w'hile higher achievement increases participation later on.