page_title: Labor force in the United States
hierarchical_section_title: Labor force in the United States
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. employment trends in key variables with the number of persons indexed to show relative changes, from 2009-2014.
context_page_description: The labor force is the actual number of people available for work and is the sum of the employed and the unemployed. The U.S. labor force reached a high of 164.6 million persons in February 2020, just at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the labor force thus: "Included are persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 States and the District of Columbia who are not inmates of institutions, and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces." The U.S. labor force has risen each year since 1960, with the exception of the period following the Great Recession, when it remained below 2008 levels from 2009-2011.
  The labor force participation rate, LFPR, is the ratio between the labor force and the overall size of their cohort. Much as in other countries, the labor force participation rate in the U.S. increased significantly in the West during the later half of the 20th century, largely because women entering the workplace in increasing numbers.
  In the U.S., the overall labor force participation rate has declined steadily since 2000, primarily because of the aging and retirement of the Baby Boom generation.
context_section_description: The labor force (workforce in British English) is the actual number of people available for work and is the sum of the employed and the unemployed. The U.S. labor force reached a high of 164.6 million persons in February 2020, just at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines the labor force thus: "Included are persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 States and the District of Columbia who are not inmates of institutions (for example, penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged), and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces." The U.S. labor force has risen each year since 1960, with the exception of the period following the Great Recession, when it remained below 2008 levels from 2009-2011.
  The labor force participation rate, LFPR (or economic activity rate, EAR), is the ratio between the labor force and the overall size of their cohort (national population of the same age range).  Much as in other countries, the labor force participation rate in the U.S. increased significantly in the West during the later half of the 20th century, largely because women entering the workplace in increasing numbers.
  In the U.S., the overall labor force participation rate has declined steadily since 2000, primarily because of the aging and retirement of the Baby Boom generation. Analyzing labor force participation trends in the prime working age (25-54) cohort helps separate the impact of an aging population from other demographic factors (e.g., gender, race, and education) and government policies. The Congressional Budget Office explained in 2018 that higher educational attainment is correlated with higher labor force participation for workers aged 25–54. Prime-aged men tend to be out of the labor force because of disability, while a key reason for women is caring for family members.
caption: Employment trends in key variables indexed to show relative changes in the number of persons (starting point = 100). For example, from June 2009 (the official end of the Great Recession) to July 2018, the number of persons not in the labor force increased by 18% as millions of Baby Boomers retire, but the labor force increased 5%.
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