Record 93,626,000 Americans Not In Labor Force, Lowest Level Of Participation Since 1977

A record 93,626,000 people were not participating in the workforce in June, according to new figures released Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The BLS defines people outside the labor force as those ages 16 and older who are neither employed nor have “made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week.”

The labor force participation rate also decreased 0.3 percent from last month to 62.6 percent.

The country has not seen a labor force participation rate that low since October 1977 when the participation rate was 62.4 percent.

The BLS reports that the civilian labor force also shrank by 432,000 in June, from 157,469,000 in May to 157,037,000 in June.

While people dropped out of the workforce the BLS highlighted that the unemployment rate declined to 5.3 percent and payroll jobs increased by 223,000.