A monthly record of U.S. labor force participation from 2015–2026, including headline and demographic participation rates published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This dataset contains monthly U.S. labor force participation rates published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and seasonally adjusted through April 2026.
It includes the headline participation rate for the total population, men, women, and prime-age workers (ages 25–54), along with demographic breakdowns reported by the BLS across age, race and ethnicity, education, nativity, marital status, parenthood, and class of worker.
All values are reported observations from the BLS. No estimates, projections, or interpolations have been applied. Months without published observations remain blank.
This dataset is the primary source for the interactive in Issue 01, US Labor Force Participation.
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| date | date | First of the month (YYYY-MM-DD). |
| sex | string | total, men, or women. |
| age | string | Age group — e.g. 16+, 25–54, 25+, or a single band (16–19, 20–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55+). |
| breakdown | string | The demographic cut — headline, age_band, race, ethnicity, nativity, education, marital, children, class_of_worker. |
| group | string | The specific group within the breakdown (e.g. "Foreign born", "Bachelor's+"). Empty for the headline series. |
| lfpr_percent | float | Labor force participation rate, percent, seasonally adjusted. |
| series_id | string | BLS series identifier (e.g. LNS11300000). |
| date | sex | age | breakdown | group | lfpr_percent | series_id |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-01-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.9 | LNS11300000 |
| 2015-02-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.7 | LNS11300000 |
| 2015-03-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.6 | LNS11300000 |
| 2015-04-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.8 | LNS11300000 |
| 2015-05-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.9 | LNS11300000 |
| 2015-06-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.7 | LNS11300000 |
| 2015-07-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.6 | LNS11300000 |
| 2015-08-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.6 | LNS11300000 |
| 2015-09-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.4 | LNS11300000 |
| 2015-10-01 | total | 16+ | headline | — | 62.5 | LNS11300000 |
Every series is a Current Population Survey (CPS) figure, seasonally adjusted and taken as published — no smoothing, modeling, or imputation is applied. The participation rate is the share of the civilian noninstitutional population that is working or actively looking for work.
The file carries the headline total / men / women series at two age cuts (16+ and prime-age 25–54), alongside the demographic breakdowns BLS publishes as rates — age band, race, ethnicity, nativity, education, marital status, motherhood, and class of worker. The breakdown and group columns identify which cut each row belongs to.
Coverage runs January 2015 through April 2026. One month — October 2025 — has no observation in this release and appears as an empty value, never interpolated.
Every series in these files is plottable in the issue's interactive — compose any combination, switch between rates and headcounts, compare states and regions, and zoom into any window.