This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Labor force in the United States" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(October 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article is part of a series on the
Economy of the United States
Economic history
Agricultural history
Banking history
Petroleum history
Shipbuilding
Industrial Revolution in the United States
History of the United States dollar
Lumber history
Tariff History
United States dollar § History
History by state
Sectors
Primary sector
Agriculture
Energy
Petroleum
Electricity
Mining
Fishing
Forestry
Water and sanitation
Secondary sector
Automotive
Iron and steel
Pulp and paper
Tertiary sector
Social programs
Transportation
Tourism
Education
Gambling
Healthcare
Insurance
Financial services
Central bank
Banking
Largest banks
Stock exchanges
Largest companies
Companies listed on the NYSE
Economy by state
California
Texas
New York
Florida
more...
State statistics
State budgets
State credit ratings
State unemployment rate
Union membership
Economy by city or county
Allentown
Atlanta
Buffalo
Chicago
Cleveland
Columbus
Detroit
Door County
Erie
Houston
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Lexington
Long Island
Louisville
Memphis
New York City
Norfolk
Omaha
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Salt Lake City
San Diego
Spokane
St. Louis
Stamford
Youngstown
Washington, D.C.
Labor
Labor Law
Child labor
Labor unions
Minimum wage
Right-to-work law
Employment
Unemployment (Causes)
United States portal
v
t
e
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.[1] Before the pandemic, the U.S. labor force had risen each year since 1960 with the exception of the period following the Great Recession, when it remained below 2008 levels from 2009 to 2011.[1] In 2021, The Great Resignation resulted in record numbers in voluntary turn over for American workers.[2]
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 in the West, the labor force participation rate in the U.S. increased significantly during the later half of the 20th century, largely because of women entering the workplace in increasing numbers. Labor force participation 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.[3]
^ ab"Civilian Labor Force". FRED. January 1948. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
^Serenko, A. (2023). "The Great Resignation: The great knowledge exodus or the onset of the Great Knowledge Revolution?" (PDF). Journal of Knowledge Management. 27 (4): 1042–1055. doi:10.1108/JKM-12-2021-0920. S2CID 249652534.
^CBO-Factors Affecting the Labor Force Participation of People Ages 25 to 54-February 7, 2018
and 28 Related for: Labor force in the United States information
million persons in February 2020, just at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic intheUnitedStates. Before the pandemic, the U.S. laborforce had risen each...
The nature and power of organized laborintheUnitedStates is the outcome of historical tensions among counter-acting forces involving workplace rights...
Labor unions represent UnitedStates workers in many industries recognized under US labor law since the 1935 enactment of the National Labor Relations...
IntheUnitedStates, penal labor is a multi-billion-dollar industry. Annually, incarcerated workers provide at least $9 billion in services to the prison...
UnitedStateslabor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers inthe US. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the "inequality...
around the end of the Great Recession as women began leaving thelaborforceintheUnitedStates and other developed countries. The female laborforce participation...
included inthelaborforce calculation. For example, as of September 2017, the unemployment rate (formally defined as the "U-3" rate) intheUnitedStates was...
20% of thelaborforceintheUnitedStates is involved inthe secondary industry. The secondary sector depends on the primary sector for the raw materials...
The list of worker deaths inUnitedStateslabor disputes captures known incidents of fatal labor-related violence in U.S. labor history, which began in...
Labor trafficking intheUnitedStates is a form of human trafficking where victims are made to perform a task through force, fraud or coercion as it occurs...
Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. All six armed services are among the eight uniformed services of theUnitedStates. Each of the different...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of theUnitedStates Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government...
leave (also known as family leave) is regulated intheUnitedStates by US labor law and state law. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) requires...
The Greenback Party (known successively as the Independent Party, the National Independent Party and the Greenback Labor Party) was an American political...
Income intheUnitedStates is measured by the various federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department...
are UnitedStates Air Force special operators who conduct personnel recovery and combat search and rescue operations as well as other missions for the U...
TheUnitedStates of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states, a federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of theUnited States)...
IntheUnitedStates from the late 18th and 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution affected the U.S. economy, progressing it from manual labor, farm...
The following is a list of events of the year 2024 intheUnitedStates, as well as predicted and scheduled events that have not yet occurred. With the...
definitions of an agency of the federal government of theUnitedStates are varied, and even contradictory. The official UnitedStates Government Manual offers...