according to recent research by princeton economist allen krueger about 44% of prime age out-of-work men said they had taken pain medication within the preceding 24 hours and about two-thirds of them are taking prescription pain medications, so, mr. puowell, if you're confirmed as chair of the fed, how does this affect what you'll do as fed chairman to achieve full employment? >> well, let me just agree with everything you said about prime age -- prime age participation, that's the other place that i was going is a full percentage point lower than it was before the cries, and there's no real obvious reason for that. that also suggests some slack. in terms of, you know, participation by prime age males and particularly allen krueger's research, you know, what we can do is we can push harder on maximum employment i think we're doing that i think we are looking at an economy that's going to go under 4% unemployment. ultimately though the tools for dealing with the opioid crisis and the long 60-year decline in participation by prime age males. that's are tools that congress has to wield.

in terms of prime age males, and allen krueger research, what we can do is push hard tear on maximum employment. i think we are doing that. i think we are looking at an economy that's going to go under 4% employment. ultimately the tools for dealing with the opioid crisis and long-term 60 age decline in males, those are tools that congress really has to wield. >> just to make sure i'm following this. it's your opinion that in order to ensure that the united states labor market is reaching full potential, congress needs to deal with the opioid crisis? is that fair? >> yes. >> so i want to ask you about one other factor holding back prime age workers. more than twice as many prime age women are out of the labor force as prime age men. and an according to a the study by the hamilton project more than half of the women side they aren't working because of care giving responsibilities, either for children or seniors. and mr. powell, how can the fed bring women who aren't working due to care giving responsibilities back into the labor market? >> again, we don't have those tools. >> good. an