The Homa Files

Remember March’s employment numbers?

Despite paltry job growth – less than population growth — the unemployment rate went down – because about 500,000 folks dropped out of the labor force.

The LFPR (labor force participation rate) dropped to 63.2%.

The Atlantic published an interesting recap of LFPRs by age group over time.

Note that the LFPR has been   …

• Increasing for all age groups over 35
• Holding steady at about 80% for folks 35 to 34
• Dropping for folks 20 to 24.
• Dropping big-time for teenagers

While older folks are participating more in the labor force, their LFPR is substantially less than other age groups (except teens) … so the aging population is “mixing down the overall LFPR.

What’s up with teens?

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This entry was posted on April 30, 2013 at 6:59 am and is filed under BLS, Employment - Jobs, Labor force participation rate (LFPR), Unemployment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.