The U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate Falls to Lowest Since May 2020

The U.S. labor force participation rate fell 0.1 percentage point in July to 61.4%, its lowest level since May 2020.
Excluding the 2020 pandemic, this is the lowest reading since March 1976. The rate measures the share of working-age Americans who are employed or actively looking for work.
The decline marks the seventh monthly drop in the past eight months, bringing the cumulative decrease to 1.1 percentage points. In July, 264,000 people left the labor force, following a decline of 720,000 in June, the second-largest monthly drop since 2020.
Since November, the U.S. labor force has shrunk by more than 2.4 million workers. The U.S. job market appears weaker beneath the surface than the headline data suggests.