US labor force participation, 1948 to 2026
US labor force participation stood at 61.5% in 2026, down 0.3pp on the previous period.
The latest reading is 61.5 percent, for June 2026, against 61.8 percent in May 2026. The series is monthly (FRED series CIVPART) and runs from January 1948.
How it is measured
The share of the civilian population aged 16 and over that is in the labor force, meaning working or actively looking. Unlike the unemployment rate it counts non-seekers in its denominator, so it captures who has entered or left the world of work entirely. The data reaches us through FRED, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's data service, and originates with the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Population Survey.
What the curve shows
The window runs from 58.1 percent (December 1954) to 67.3 percent (January 2000). The long arc is demographic: women's entry lifted participation for decades, and boomer retirements have pulled it down since the 2000s. Cyclical dips ride on top of that slow tide.
Why does participation fall even in good economies?
How is this different from the unemployment rate?
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