Labour Market
Labour force participation rate
The labour force participation rate is the share of the working-age population that is either employed or actively looking for work, as a percentage of the total working-age population. A country with a low participation rate can post a deceptively low unemployment rate simply because fewer people are counted as being in the labor force at all.
Why it matters
Read it alongside the unemployment rate — a falling unemployment rate paired with falling participation is a weaker labour market than the headline number suggests.
Also known as: labor force participation rate, LFPR