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Journal Article
Why Is Prime-Age Labor Force Participation So High?
The labor force participation (LFP) rate for prime-age workers surged from early 2021 through early 2023, especially for women. This helped reduce the large shortfall of available workers relative to available jobs that emerged during the recovery from the pandemic. Analysis of state labor markets indicates that the cyclical response of prime-age LFP was much more pronounced during the two most recent business cycles than in prior ones. This state-level relationship weakened in 2023, however, suggesting that the cyclical gains in prime-age LFP are winding down.
Journal Article
What’s Driving Labor Force Participation Among Women?
A substantial and unexpected rise in women’s labor force participation rates over the past few years has been a key factor spurring rapid labor force growth. In particular, Hispanic women have made a disproportionately large contribution to post-pandemic growth in prime-age women’s participation rates. Analysis shows that this group’s increase was driven by both a rise in labor market participation over the life cycle within generational cohorts and notably higher participation rates among younger generations than older generations’ participation when they were the same age.
Journal Article
The Ups and Downs of Household Income
Changes in overall economic conditions may affect real household income levels and also how income is distributed across households. Analysis using annual data from 1967 to 2023 shows that the adverse effects of unemployment and inflation have been generally uniform across the household income distribution. However, the pandemic recession showed a different pattern: Historically large government transfers via enhanced unemployment insurance benefits largely offset the adverse economic effects of surging unemployment for lower-income households. Results also show that sustained economic ...