jeb! says we all need to work longer hours :|

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Fwiw, in 2007 the USA ranked 1st in worker productivity.

In 2014 we ranked 7th, and just above average, and mexico is way below us.

In mexico they work longer hours for less product per hour.

To get more people better employed, we need two things:

More people employed. Duh. This may have benefits outside of more people bringing home a pay check - like better worker safety, better product quality, and more product innovation. Not to mention better quality of life.

More work for more people to do. Duh.

In short, i say to Jeb!: it's the economy, stupid.

Oh, and productivity in terms of gdp vs hours worked is essentially guaranteed to drop during this transition.

Employers are already doing the following:

Incentivizing/enticing employees to work overtime for free/off the clock in order to keep their jobs
Hiring people on as interns, most of which are unpaid and many are underpaid with no benefits.
Hiring people for a trial period, where you work 3-6 months for free and they will decided at the end to keep you or let you go (most do not give you back pay for the time if you are hired in).
Hiring at minimum wage with promises of full wages and benefits after a some time (many keep pushing it back or don't come through)
Firing you outright for not taking on extra hours for free.
Listing your job as opened and taking resume for it, while you are working to scare you into working longer hours for less pay and benefits.

Making employers pay up for those overtime hours, encourages them to hire more people to handle the work load instead of paying out time and half or double time for overtime (Depends on where you live and who you work for).

Right now employers have no reason to expand as long as they can keep making their employees work extra hours for free and/or less pay.

Right. Short of more risk taking behavior in the form of business investment, we need a decrease in productivity.

How do you decrease productivity without causing mass unemployment?
Less productive employees tend to get shown the door.

Remember, productivity is the hours worked vs money made.

If, as Jeb! says, we want higher workforce participation, productivity will suffer.

High productivity == employers working the fewest number of people as hard as they can. Not just more hours per person, but more product per hour.

Sorry, i should be more clear.

High productivity == working the smallest number of employees as hard as you can for the highest profit per hour.

Since profit is really what GDP is about, and what CFOs mean by productivity.

I'm well aware of that, but that doesn't answer the question of more labor market participation.

Is there a way to increase workforce participation without employing more people?

Internships

Seriously... INTERNSHIPS (they are almost equal to full time entry level jobs in terms of requirements).

I am not sure an unpaid intern counts as a workforce participant in federal statistics.

At any rate, most of those companies are breaking the law, which states that the experience gained must be more valuable than the work product.

It's most decent sized companies who'd rather employ people as interns (both unpaid and lowly paid) because it is that much cheaper.
There is literally a glut of experienced and educated people who are unemployed/underemployed that need/want work.
Thus giving employers the upper hand.
Most interns in the U.S. are in their 30s and 40s now, competing against newly minted graduates and college students for the jobs.
Same applies for unskilled labor and low end labor.

Oh the burden of proof is on you the intern/employee when filing against the employer.
Though employers are reluctant to hire anyone who's previously filed and/or sued an employer

Right. Department of labor needs to start cracking down.

But under federal and state law the employees and interns must initiate most of it.
Or congress and state legislatures would have to take action.

There is very little the U.S. Department of Labor can do on this matter without a change in the law broadening their powers and help from the workers.

almost any unpaid job is AFAIC akin to semi-voluntary slavery.

For the purposes of labor-force participation stats, "employed" requires paid work, or at least 15 hours unpaid in their family business.

Also those who have paid employment that they missed regardless of whether time off was paid.

So unpaid interns and trainees don't count as employed.