A Changing Labor Force
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A Changing Labor Force
The labor force is people ages 16 and older who are either working or actively looking for work. It excludes active-duty military personnel and the institutionalized population, such as prison inmates.
BLS data reveal how the age makeup of the U.S. labor force is changing. (See chart 1.) From 1970 until the end of the 20th century, older workers—which BLS defines as those ages 55 and older—made up the smallest segment of the labor force. In the 1990s, however, these older workers began to increase their share of the labor force, while workers in younger age groups started to have declines in their labor force shares. And by 2003, the older age group no longer had the smallest share.
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