04/09/2026
Repost from The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. labor market bounced back last month with healthy job growth and a decline in unemployment. But another trend also came into focus: the continuing fall in labor-force participation.
The share of the working-age population that is either working or looking for work—known as the labor-force participation rate—edged down to 61.9% in March, its lowest level since 1977, outside of the pandemic.
The rate has been gradually falling since the early 2000s, largely due to the aging population. It nosedived in the early months of the pandemic, then rebounded and grew for a while before resuming its downward slide in 2024.
The continued aging of the population and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown have helped drive the fall in recent months, economists said.
The rate matters because it helps set the pace of economic growth. The economy grows either because more workers join it or because each worker produces more.
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