vs Last Month
−0.10 pts
Drifting lower.
Labor Force Participation Rate
U.S. 16+ · Monthly BLS
62.60%
-0.10 pts vs. last month
Past 12 monthsRange 62.55 – 63.00
vs Last Year-0.30
5-Yr Avg62.80%
2000 Peak67.3%
Labor force participation drifted down to 62.60% — the demographic shift continues as boomers retire. The headline 16+ rate is structurally constrained, but prime-age (25–54) participation is at 83.5% — the highest in 22 years.
Historical trend
Monthly BLS CPS.
Source: FRED · CIVPART
The long view: since 1948
The rise (1965–2000) was women joining; the fall (2000–today) is multiple factors.
Peak 67.3% · April 2000COVID Trough 60.2% · April 2020Today 62.60%
How today stacks up
vs Last Year
−0.30 pts
Trend continues.
5-Yr Avg
62.80%
Today right at average.
Prime Age (25–54)
83.5%
Above 1999 high — record strong.
Use this data
Tools for career and retirement planning.
About the Labor Force Participation Rate
The Labor Force Participation Rate measures the share of the civilian noninstitutional population aged 16+ that is either working or actively looking for work. It's the denominator side of the unemployment calculation — people who aren't working AND aren't looking aren't counted in unemployment. The rate captures who has "opted out" of the labor force entirely: retirees, full-time students, stay-at-home parents, disabled, and discouraged workers.
The long demographic story
U.S. labor force participation peaked at 67.3% in April 2000 as women's labor force participation maxed out. Since then it has trended down for two main reasons: (1) aging baby boomers retiring out of the labor force, and (2) prime-age men increasingly dropping out (a trend documented but not fully explained — disability claims, opioid epidemic, education-skill mismatches all cited). The COVID pandemic accelerated the decline to 60.2% in April 2020 — a 47-year low. Recovery to ~62.6% has plateaued; further gains are bounded by the structural demographic shift.
Why this matters for the economy
A falling labor force participation rate constrains potential GDP growth — fewer workers means less total economic output. It also strains Social Security and Medicare (fewer workers paying in, more retirees drawing). At today's 62.60%, the rate is below the long-run average but recovering from the pandemic shock. The CBO projects participation will continue declining slowly through the 2030s as baby boomer retirements continue.
Related trackers
Other live numbers that move with — or against — this one.
Frequently asked
What this number means, and what it doesn't.
Women's labor force participation rose steadily from the 1960s through the 1990s as cultural norms shifted and dual-income households became standard. By 2000, that demographic trend was complete. From then on, participation could only fall as men's participation kept slowly declining and women's stayed flat or slightly fell.
Yes — "prime-age" (25–54) participation is a better measure of labor demand because it strips out demographic effects. Prime-age participation peaked at 84.6% in 1999, fell to 81.7% in 2015, and has recovered to 83.5% today. The headline rate (16+) makes the story look worse than it actually is.
Multiple factors: (1) baby boomers retiring (~half the decline), (2) early retirements pulled forward during COVID, (3) increased disability rolls, (4) stay-at-home parents (especially during/after COVID), (5) "discouraged workers" who stopped searching during the 2010s sluggish recovery.
Possibly slightly. The Fed and CBO project participation will continue declining slowly as boomer retirements continue. The wild card is policy — childcare costs, immigration, retirement age changes could all swing this. Probably bounces between 62–63% for the next few years.
Methodology
Source
Pulled from FRED · CIVPART and cached on the EvvyTools server.
Update schedule
Refreshed automatically by our cron whenever the upstream source publishes a new value. Historical values are not revised after publication.
How we compute
Display value is the raw published number, unrounded. Comparison stats use the closest available reference date. We never edit the underlying data.