Editing Unemployment (section)

====Labor force participation rate====
[[File:US Labor Force Participation Rate by gender.png|thumb|upright=1.5|US labor force participation rate from 1948 to 2021, by gender
{{legend|#4A90E2|Male participation}}
{{legend|#000000|Total labor force participation}}
{{legend|#AA4643|Female participation}}]]
[[File:Work Force Participation Rate by Age Group.webp|thumb|300px|{{center|US Work Force Participation Rate by Age Group}}
{{legend-line|#B8BEBA solid 3px|55+}}
{{legend-line|#61D836 solid 3px|25-54}}
{{legend-line|#FFD932 solid 3px|20-24}}
{{legend-line|#EE220C solid 3px|16-19}}
]]
The labor force participation rate is the ratio between the [[labor force]] and the overall size of their [[cohort (statistics)|cohort]] (national population of the same age range). In the West, during the latter half of the 20th century, the labor force participation rate increased significantly because of an increase in the number of women entering the workplace.

In the United States, there have been four significant stages of women's participation in the labour force: increases in the 20th century and decreases in the 21st century. Male labor force participation decreased from 1953 to 2013. Since October 2013, men have been increasingly joining the labour force.

From the late 19th century to the 1920s, very few women worked outside the home. They were young single women who typically withdrew from the labor force at marriage unless family needed two incomes. Such women worked primarily in the [[textile manufacturing]] industry or as [[domestic worker]]s. That profession empowered women and allowed them to earn a living wage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Women Workers in the British Industrial Revolution – EH.net |url=https://eh.net/encyclopedia/women-workers-in-the-british-industrial-revolution/ |access-date=2024-06-12 |language=en-US}}</ref> At times, they were a financial help to their families.

Between 1930 and 1950, female labor force participation increased primarily because of the increased demand for office workers, women's participation in the high school movement, and [[electrification]], which reduced the time that was spent on household chores. From the 1950s to the early 1970s, most women were secondary earners working mainly as secretaries, teachers, nurses, and librarians ([[pink-collar]] jobs).

From the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, there was a period of revolution of women in the labor force brought on by various factors, many of which arose from the [[second-wave feminism]] movement. Women more accurately planned for their future in the work force by investing in more applicable majors in college that prepared them to enter and compete in the labor market. In the United States, the female labor force participation rate rose from approximately 33% in 1948 to a peak of 60.3% in 2000. As of April 2015, the female labor force participation is at 56.6%, the male labor force participation rate is at 69.4%, and the total is 62.8%.<ref name="research.stlouisfed.org">[https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/LNS11300002 Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: Women] Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis</ref>

A common theory in modern economics claims that the rise of women participating in the US labor force in the 1950s to the 1990s was caused by the introduction of a new contraceptive technology, [[combined oral contraceptive pill|birth control pills]], as well as the adjustment of [[age of majority]] laws. The use of birth control gave women the flexibility of opting to invest and to advance their career while they maintained a relationship. By having control over the timing of their fertility, they were not running a risk of thwarting their career choices. However, only 40% of the population actually used the birth control pill.

That implies that other factors may have contributed to women choosing to invest in advancing their careers. One factor may be that an increasing number of men delayed the age of marriage, which allowed women to marry later in life without them worrying about the quality of older men. Other factors include the changing nature of work, with machines replacing physical labor, thus eliminating many traditional male occupations, and the rise of the service sector in which many jobs are gender neutral.

Another factor that may have contributed to the trend was the [[Equal Pay Act of 1963]], which aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex. Such legislation diminished sexual discrimination and encouraged more women to enter the labor market by receiving fair remuneration to help raising families and children.

At the turn of the 21st century, the labor force participation began to reverse its long period of increase. Reasons for the change include a rising share of older workers, an increase in school enrollment rates among young workers, and a decrease in female labor force participation.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Van Zandweghe|first=Willem|title=Interpreting the Recent Decline in Labor Force Participation|journal=KC Fed Economic Review, First Quarter, 2012|pages=5–34|url=http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/econrev/pdf/12q1VanZandweghe.pdf|access-date=22 April 2013|archive-date=15 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115193338/http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/econrev/pdf/12q1VanZandweghe.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The labor force participation rate can decrease when the rate of growth of the population outweighs that of the employed and the unemployed together. The labor force participation rate is a key component in long-term economic growth, almost as important as [[productivity]].

A historic shift began around the end of the [[Great Recession]] as women began leaving the labor force in the United States and other developed countries. The female labor force participation rate in the United States has steadily decreased since 2009, and as of April 2015, the female labor force participation rate has gone back down to 1988 levels of 56.6%.<ref name="research.stlouisfed.org"/>

Participation rates are defined as follows:

{|  style="margin:auto; width:90%;"
| Pop = total population || LF = labor force = U + E
|-
| LFpop = labor force population <br /> (generally defined as all men and women aged 15–64) || p = participation rate = LF / LFpop
|-
| E = number employed || e = rate of employment = E / LFpop
|-
| U = number of unemployed || u = rate of unemployment = U / LF
|}

The labor force participation rate explains how an increase in the unemployment rate can occur simultaneously with an increase in employment. If a large number of new workers enter the labor force but only a small fraction become employed, then the increase in the number of unemployed workers can outpace the growth in employment.<ref>Peter Barth and Dennis Heffley [https://web.archive.org/web/20070621060113/http://www.cteconomy.uconn.edu/TCE_Individual_Articles/Spring_2004/LocalLaborForceParticipationRates.pdf "Taking Apart Taking Part: Local Labor Force Participation Rates"] University of Connecticut, 2004.</ref>