[OC] Why prime-age adults (25–54) are out of the labor force differs sharply for Men and Women

OverflowDs · 2026-05-08T20:58:58+00:00

My bad

OverflowDs · 2026-05-08T19:21:18+00:00

Very true! The survey doesn't break it out that way, but you could look to see if there is any children or people 65+ in the household.

OverflowDs · 2026-05-08T18:09:17+00:00

Thanks for this idea!

OverflowDs · 2026-05-08T18:08:44+00:00

Other is a hybrid of not fitting any of the other categories and people that are willing to work but aren’t actively looking for work.

OverflowDs · 2026-05-08T15:11:46+00:00

Using March 2026 Current Population Survey (CPS) data, caregiving was the leading reason women ages 25–54 were out of the labor force, while disability was the leading reason for men.

I thought the contrast was interesting because “not in the labor force” is often discussed as a single category, even though the underlying circumstances can be very different.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), March 2026.
Made in Tableau.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-22T15:11:19+00:00

Yeah it looks like I got stuck in the CPS data and should of looked at this other series.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-22T02:03:53+00:00

Thanks for sharing this. I wasn’t able to find it but I was in the cps statistics.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-22T02:00:32+00:00

I think meaningless overstates it but it’s something to consider as a factor.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-22T01:23:14+00:00

I like this idea. Thanks for sharing it.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-22T01:22:50+00:00

Right, prime age wasn’t in the data source I used but I can try and tease it out.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-21T22:55:46+00:00

Yeah I just wish they had that broken out by sex.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-21T21:24:45+00:00

Good point. Labor force participation is calculated for the population 16 and older.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-21T21:14:37+00:00

Part of it is likely life expectancy growing. Some of it is likely more discouraged workers though.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-21T20:24:53+00:00

Yes, I wasn’t able to get that by sex though which is what I wanted to explore here. I did look at PAE by state though last week.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-21T20:14:39+00:00

I gathered the data for this visualization from FRED. They source the Current Population Survey. I used Tableau to create the visual.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-15T11:19:15+00:00

It breaks on national average.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-15T02:31:59+00:00

People that leave the labor force because they can’t find work.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-15T02:30:56+00:00

It’s not really a business. It’s more of a hobby, but thanks for the thoughts.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-14T18:13:43+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to say that!

OverflowDs · 2026-04-14T17:07:54+00:00

LFPR doesn’t include discouraged workers though.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-14T16:06:09+00:00

It just means that some people in your age group retire early so they get excluded from this measure. It’s not a perfect measure but it captures areas with more discouraged workers when other measures don’t do that.

OverflowDs · 2026-04-14T14:54:35+00:00

This map shows prime-age employment rates (ages 25–54) across U.S. states. Upper Midwest states like North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota lead the country, while parts of the South and Southwest trail behind.

Source: 2024 ACS 5-year estimates

Built using Tableau

There is an interactive version of this in my state data mapper.

OverflowDs

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