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Actual labor force participation rates lower than BLS projected for 2006, 2008, and 2010

January 05, 2016

Actual labor force participation rates were slightly lower than BLS originally projected for the 1996–2006, 1998–2008, and 2000–10 projection periods.

Actual versus projected labor force participation rates for projections from 1996–2006, 1998–2008, 2000–10
Projection years Projected Actual

1996–2006

67.6 66.2

1998–2008

67.6 66.0

2000–10

67.5 64.7

The labor force participation rate that BLS projected for 2006 was 67.6 percent, but the actual rate was more than a percentage point lower, at 66.2 percent. Similarly, the projected rate for 2008 was 67.6 percent, but the actual rate was 66.0 percent. Finally, for 2010, the projected rate (67.5 percent) was nearly 3 percentage points higher than the actual rate (64.7 percent), which was much lower than expected because of the recession of 2007–09.

For more information, see “Evaluation of BLS employment, labor force and macroeconomic projections to 2006, 2008, and 2010,” by Kathryn J. Byun, Richard Henderson, and Mitra Toossi in the November 2015 Monthly Labor Review.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Actual labor force participation rates lower than BLS projected for 2006, 2008, and 2010 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/actual-labor-force-participation-rates-lower-than-bls-projected-for-2006-2008-and-2010.htm (visited December 09, 2024).

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