Many surprising things have happened in the last 19 months, but the number of people currently sitting on the labor pool sidelines is one I would have never seen coming.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor participation rate is sitting at near record levels – near record for how low it is.
At just under 62%, the current labor participation rate is more than 5% lower than it was 20 years ago and only about 1.5% higher than it was in the depth of the pandemic. By comparison, about 5 million job openings have been added in that same time, and the BLS currently estimates there are more than 10 million non-farm job openings in the U.S.
