The % of 25-54 year olds employed in December was 80.5% after being 80.4% in Nov. (was 80.9% in Sept.); Average hours worked unchanged

One weakness of the unemployment rate is that if people drop out of the labor force they cannot be counted as an unemployed person and the unemployment rate goes down. They are no longer actively seeking work and it might be because they are discouraged workers. The lower unemployment rate can be misleading in this case. People dropping out of the labor force might indicate a weak labor market.

We could look at the employment to population ratio instead, since that includes those not in the labor force. But that includes everyone over 16 and that means that senior citizens are in the group but many of them have retired. The more that retire, the lower this ratio would be and that might be misleading. It would not necessarily mean the labor market is weak.

But we have this ratio for people age 25-54 (which also eliminates many college age people who might not be looking for work).

The rise to 80.5% in Dec. from 80.4% in Nov. came after two months of declines (the last time before Covid that we had 3 straight months of declines was in 2009).

It was 80.6% in Jan. 2020 just before Covid. The 80.9% in June & July 2023 was the highest since the 80.9% in April, 2001. It was 80.6% in Jan. 2020 and 69.6% in April 2020.  Click here to see the BLS data. Here is what it was for each of the last 3 years

2022) 79.875% 

2023) 80.667%

2024) 80.717%

The unemployment rate was 4.1% in Dec. after being 4.2% in Nov. Click here to go to that data. Here is what it was for each of the last 3 years

 

2022) 3.6%

2023) 3.6%

2024) 4.0%

The labor force participation rose to 62.509% from 62.459%. Here is what it was for each of the last 3 years 

2022) 62.2%

2023) 62.6%

2024) 62.6%

The % of the adult population employed rose to 59.955% to 59.816% (that is people 16 years old and older).  Here is what it was for each of the last 3 years 

2022) 60.0%

2023) 60.3%

2024) 60.1%

Here is the timeline graph of the percentage of 25-54 year olds employed since 2014.

 

Now since 1948.

Now hours worked. This comes from the St. Louis FED. See Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private. It was 34.3 in Dec. and 34.3 in Nov. Shaded areas indicate U.S. recessions.