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March 19, 2024
The Labor Force Participation Rate
This In Focus provides an introduction to the Labor Force
employment, they may be disabled in a way that prevents
Participation Rate (LFPR), a key measure of the labor
employment, or they may be fully retired.
market. It is the fraction of people who are engaged in the
labor force, whether they are employed or actively looking
Many decisions about labor force participation also involve
for employment.
a mix of economic and noneconomic factors, both of which
can be influenced by policy. Decisions about whether to
How the Labor Force Participation Rate
continue schooling or to retire may be influenced by labor
is Calculated
market conditions as well as the out-of-pocket cost of
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases the official
schooling and the work incentives of Social Security
estimate of the LFPR each month. This is the number of
program rules. Decisions about labor market participation
people participating in the labor force—whether they are
for parents with partners can be affected by the cost and
employed or unemployed—as a percentage of the civilian
availability of child care. When the number of jobs is
non-institutional population.
increasing and wages are rising, more young adults,
previously discouraged workers, and people with family
responsibilities may join the labor force and more older
adults may postpone retirement.
BLS estimates expanded versions of the unemployment rate
BLS estimates the LFPR from the data collected in the
(the number of unemployed people divided by the number
Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey
of people in the labor force) that include discouraged
conducted jointly by BLS and the Census Bureau. This
workers. However, BLS does not count people as
survey has a sample size of 60,000 households per month,
discouraged workers if they say they are not currently
selected to be representative of the U.S. civilian non-
looking for work due to reasons such as family
institutional population. It does not include people on active
responsibilities, schooling, or disability. Thus, the LFPR
military duty, people who are incarcerated, or people in
and the unemployment rate provide distinct,
residential care facilities. Survey interviewers ask several
complementary measures of labor market conditions.
questions about the labor force status of each person aged
16 or older in each surveyed household to classify them as
LFPRs by Age, Sex, Race, and Education
• employed, if during the week before they are
By Age
interviewed they worked at least one hour as a paid
In 2023, the LFPR rose from 26.5% for people aged 16-17
employee or in their own business, they were
to a peak of 84.5% for people aged 30-34 as young adults
temporarily absent from their job or business, or they
complete their schooling and join the labor force. The
worked without pay for at least 15 hours in a family-
LFPR then declines with age as people retire. This pattern
owned business;
is shown in Figure 1.
• unemployed, if during the week before they are
Figure 1. Labor Force Participation Rates by Age and
interviewed they were not employed, they were
Sex: 2023
available to work, and they were either temporarily laid
off from a job to which they expected to be recalled or
had made at least one active effort to find a job during
the previous four weeks; or
• not in the labor force, if they are neither employed nor
had actively searched for a job.
Why People Are Not in the Labor Force
Some reasons people are classified as not in the labor force
are economic—people want a job, but believe no jobs are
available for them and they have not looked for a job in the
previous four weeks. These people are called discouraged
workers. Other reasons people are not in the labor force
appear to be noneconomic—they are full-time students,
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
they have family responsibilities that would conflict with
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The Labor Force Participation Rate
Notes: Figure is smoothed using a five-year moving average over
LFPR reached a low of 80.9% in 2014 and 2015 before
ages.
recovering to 82.5% in 2019. In the COVID-19 recession,
the prime-aged LFPR fell to 79.8% in April 2020, but it has
Lower LFPRs for older people mean that the aging of the
been generally increasing since then.
population reduces LFPR. Thus, much attention on the
Figure 2. Prime-Aged Labor Force Participation
LFPR as a U.S. economic indicator focuses on the LFPR of
Rates: January 1998–February 2024
people aged 25-54 years, called prime-aged people. The
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
(by sex)
Development’s version of the LFPR divides the total labor
force by the working-age population of people aged 15-64.
By Sex
At all ages older than 17, the LFPR of men is higher than
that of women (Figure 1). Men’s LFPR is more than 10
percentage points higher than women’s from ages 24-29
through ages 60-64, as more women than men leave the
labor force, typically to raise their children, and remain out
of the labor force.
By Race and Hispanic origin
LFPRs vary by race and Hispanic origin (Table 1). Black
men have prime-aged LFPRs that are lower than the overall
average for men, while Black women have prime-aged
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
LFPRs that are higher than the overall average for women.
Black women have had particularly high LFPRs for at least
Changes Over Time for Men
150 years, although their LFPRs are now more similar to
The prime-aged LFPR for men fell from over 95% before
those of other women than they were historically.
1973 to a low of 88.2% in 2014. This decline was greatest
among men without college degrees. Economists have
Table 1. Prime-Aged Labor Force Participation Rates:
linked the fall in this LFPR to the decline in real wages for
2023
men without college degrees, the increased generosity of
(by race and Hispanic origin, and by sex)
the Social Security Disability Insurance programs after the
mid-1980s, the increase in the overuse of opioid pain
Overall
Men
Women
medications, the rising share of men with prior prison
records, and falling marriage expectations for men.
Overall
83.3
89.1
77.4
The LFPR rate for prime-aged men increased in the strong
White
83.9
90.1
77.5
labor market of the late 2010s, reaching 89.1% in 2019. It
Black
81.5
83.9
79.4
fell to a new low of 86.3% in April 2020, during the
COVID-19 recession, but has been rising since then.
Asian
82.7
91.3
74.6
Changes Over Time for Women
Hispanic
81.0
90.1
71.4
The prime-aged LFPR for women rose from less than 50%
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
before 1970 to 76.8% in 1999, largely due to the increased
Notes: People who are of Hispanic origin may be of any race, and
participation of mothers in the labor force. However, in the
are included in previous rows of this table.
early 2000s LFPRs for married mothers and for mothers
without college degrees declined. The LFPR of prime-aged
Asian men have prime-aged LFPRs that are higher than the
women declined to 73.7% in 2015.
overall average for men, while both Asian and Hispanic
women have prime-aged LFPRs that are lower than the
In recent decades, the LFPR of women has become more
overall average for women.
closely linked to the business cycle. In the strong labor
By Education
market of the late 2010s, the LFPR of prime-aged women
rose to 76% in 2019. It fell to 73.5% in April 2020, but has
LFPRs are higher for people with greater levels of
been rising since then, with a record high of 77.4% in 2023.
education, among both men and women. This is due to both
the higher labor force participation rates of people with
Data Availability
more education at ages 25-55 as well as the later retirement
The CPS sample is large enough to produce monthly labor
ages of people with more education.
force estimates by detailed age, sex, race, educational
Changes in LFPRs Over Time
attainment, veteran status, and nativity. BLS publishes these
LFPRs as part of the monthly “Employment Situation”
Prime-aged LFPRs by sex for the past 25 years are shown
in Figure 2. Overall, the LFPR was slightly lower in 2023
press release. BLS also publishes annual LFPRs for parents,
(83.3%) than in 1998 (84.1%), due to falling men’s LFPRs.
by the age of their youngest child, and for disabled and
nondisabled people.
The LFPR is associated with business cycles. It falls during
and after recessions, and rises when recoveries are well
Elizabeth Weber Handwerker, Analyst in Labor Policy
underway. After the 2007-2009 recession, the prime-aged
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The Labor Force Participation Rate
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