US Population
– March 2020 US population size: 260 million
Labor force size
– 2020 US labor force size: 164.6 million
– Labor force (workforce) – sum of the employed and the unemployed
– “persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 States and the District of Columbia who are not inmates of institutions (penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged), and not on active duty in the Armed Forces”
– Does not include students, retired, homemakers, underemployed, marginally attached workers, discouraged workers
Unemployed
– People 16 years or older who are not employed, but available for work and actively looked for a job within the past four weeks.
– People who would like to work, but haven’t actively looked for it in the last month are not counted
Labor force participation rate
– March 2020 labor force participation rate: 62.7%
– Labor force participation rate (LFPR) = Labor Force / Total cohort population
– Labor force participation rate peaked in 2000 with 67.3%
– Male LFPR declining since 1950
Official unemployment rate (U-3)
– Only includes labor force (does not include underemployed, marginally attached workers, discouraged workers)
– Typically only this is mentioned by officials and media
Real unemployment rate (U-6)
– Includes labor force and underemployed, marginally attached workers, discouraged workers
– Generally double the U-3 rate
– Not typically mentioned by officials and media
Links:
Wikipedia – Labor force in the United States
FRED – Labor Force Participation Rate
BLS – Civilian labor force participation rate
Real Unemployment Rate With Calculations