2020
DOI: 10.1111/joes.12402
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The Decline in the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate: A Literature Review

Abstract: After peaking around the year 2000, the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of Americans declined substantially. The weakening in LFPR was faster after the financial crisis of 2007, the Great Recession. Since 2015, the LFPR has remained at its lowest in four decades. This paper constitutes a comprehensive review of the literature investigating the causes of the LFPR's recent decline. We determine what is known and identify the remaining gaps. The literature reviewed signals multiple causes behind this declin… Show more

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Cited by 13 publications
(4 citation statements)
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References 127 publications
(166 reference statements)
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“… 40 Currently, the rates of labor force participation and employment are insufficient, and much of the labor force remains unemployed. 41 In fact, the elderly population is also the main driving force of the growth in social welfare expenditure including public health and social security. 42 It is concerning that social welfare consumes scarce resources for unproductive social services, and thus, economic development is bound to be stifled in the long run.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“… 40 Currently, the rates of labor force participation and employment are insufficient, and much of the labor force remains unemployed. 41 In fact, the elderly population is also the main driving force of the growth in social welfare expenditure including public health and social security. 42 It is concerning that social welfare consumes scarce resources for unproductive social services, and thus, economic development is bound to be stifled in the long run.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…However, labor force participation has not evolved favorably in the United States in the recent past. After peaking around the year 2000 at about 67.3 percent (age 16 and older), the U.S. LFPR declined until about 2015 and has remained stable at about 63 percent since then (Perez-Arce & Prados, 2021 ). During the same period, the LFPR of most other economically advanced countries increased (OECD, 2021 ).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Aaronson et al ( 2014 ) and Krueger ( 2017 ) suggest that about half of the decline in the U.S. is due to long-running demographic changes. In their summary of the literature, Perez-Arce and Prados ( 2021 ) argue that this could even amount to two-thirds.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…), 2005periods, i.e. -2017 in Balliester Reis and Elsheikhi (2018in Perez-Arce and Prados (2021, while our review covers thirty-three years which allows us to capture a more complete picture of the effects for each of the technologies examined. Third, in contrast to Ugur and Mitra (2017) who synthesized the evidence on less developed countries, we focused our review on developed economies aiming to capture the impact of technological change at the frontier.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%