The long-term decrease in the labor force participation rate described in this post is accompanied (and is a principal part of) by the drop in the employment-population ratio. Figure 1 presents the most recent data and two trends from 1975 to 2000 and from 2000 to 2025. Two drops in 2009 and 2020 are the most prominent. The workforce leakage is a challenge to the US economy: 1% drop is equivalent to 2,600,000. The drop by 7.5% in 25 years is equivalent to 18,000,000 people leaving the workforce. For me, it is not clear what is behind such an exodus. As mentioned before - older people (50+) are rather increasing their participation. Younger people's failure to get jobs in the same proportion as in the past is a clear economic symptom as based on the increasing difficulties in personal income growth.
Figure 1. employment-population ratio in the USA
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