The month of May saw 92,986,000 people not participating in the workforce, according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals.
May’s total represented slight decline compared to last month’s record, which saw 93,194,000 people outside the workforce.
The BLS defines those not in the labor force as people ages 16 and older who are neither employed nor “made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week.”
The labor force participation rate came in at 62.9 percent, a slight uptick compared to April’s 62.8 percent.
According to the BLS, the civilian labor force itself rose by 397,000, reaching 157,469,000 in May.
Of those participating in the workforce, 148,795,000 had a job and 8,674,000 were unemployed.
The overall unemployment data from the BLS saw payroll employment rise in June by 280,000 and the official jobless rate at 5.5 percent.
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