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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Current Population Survey > Home

Age

Here you will find labor force, employment, and unemployment statistics by age group from the Current Population Survey (CPS) as well as information about these data. The CPS covers the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 and older. (There is no upper age limit.)

Explore our data

Read the latest Summer Employment and Unemployment Among Youth news release (annual)
- Find archived news releases in HTML and PDF format
Find the latest numbers from the Employment Situation news release (monthly)
- Table A-9: Employment
- Table A-10: Unemployment
- Select series from Table A-9 to retrieve historical data
- Select series from Table A-10 to retrieve historical data
Find labor force statistics by age in our monthly, quarterly, and annual average tables
Use the One-Screen Data Search tool to retrieve time series by age

Looking for additional analysis?

Search the TED: The Economics Daily for age, youth, or older workers
Search our library of research by CPS staff for age, youth, young workers, teens, or older workers

Understanding these data

What you need to know

The CPS covers the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 and older. There is no upper age limit.

Teens and teenagers refer to people ages 16 to 19.
Youth generally refers to people ages 16 to 24.
Adult men and adult women refer to those age 20 and older.
Older workers generally refers to people age 55 and older.

Questions about these data?

Are data by age available crossed by other characteristics?

Yes, use the A to Z index to find the characteristics you are interested in.

Are CPS data available by generation?

While CPS data are available by age group, we do not have data available by “generation” (such as Generation X or Millennials). The CPS does not have official definitions of each generation. Data users can use the data available by age group to create categories that roughly approximate their own definition of a generation.

Are labor force data available for teenagers under age 16?

Labor force questions are asked about people age 15 and older, but BLS tabulates these data only for those age 16 and older. The data for 15-year-olds are not used in the calculation of labor force estimates.

Age