Officially, Alex is not in the labor force.
Given that he is not actually employed (doesn't have an actual job), he cannot be considered part of the labor force. If he had some kind of job other than taking care of his children (even if it's a freelance job he can do from his home), then he would be in the labor force. However, this way, he is not and fall into the same category as unemployed students, for example.
Some goods are needs, and not wants. If the company decided to overprice, then when nobody can afford, everybody suffer. That is why the Office of Price Administration set limits to prices to avoid high prices and inflations.
hope this helps
I believe the answer is: political institutions
In united states, the role of political institutions is to hear the aspiration/principles that held by a specific group of people, and appoint a certain candidate to realise those aspirations/principles into an actual law/regulations.
I don't have a direct answer, but this should help. https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/uglies/shay