82 Percent of Prime-Working-Age Americans Are in the Workforce

Eighty-two percent (82.1%) of Americans aged 25-54 are currently in the workforce. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s the highest level of workforce participation since 2010. It’s up from the 21st century low of 80.6 percent in September 2015.

A Brookings Institution report noted that the participation rate “is now close to recovering entirely from its cyclical downturn following the Great Recession. This comes after a decades-long decline in male prime-age participation and a 15-year slide in female prime-age participation.”

Looking longer term, prime-age participation in the labor force was around 65 percent in 1950. It reached 70 percent for the first time in 1965 and 80 percent for the first time in 1982. Generally, these trends were driven by the increased participation of women in the workforce.

The all-time high of 84.6 percent was reached in January 1999. Following 9/11, participation generally remained around 83 percent until the Great Recession. According to Brookings, “Continued improvements in labor force participation rates in the next few months will be crucial to determining whether recent progress constitutes merely a rebound from a cyclical low or an actual reversal of the downward trend.”

The overall labor force participation rate — for people of all ages — has been generally declining over the past two decades. It peaked at 67.3 percent in January 2000 and is at 62.9 percent today. That trend is generally driven by an aging population and a growing number of retirees.

Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.