Labor force participation increased by education level for Americans born from 1980 to 1984

Individuals born in the early 1980s were employed for 76 percent of all the weeks from ages 18 to 36. They were unemployed for 5 percent of those weeks and not in the labor force (neither working nor seeking work) for 19 percent. As a group, individuals with higher educational attainment were employed for a larger percentage of weeks and unemployed for a smaller percentage of weeks than individuals with less education. The percentage of weeks spent not in the labor force decreased with increases in educational attainment.

Among individuals from ages 18 to 36, men spent more time employed than women (80 percent compared with 72 percent) and less time not in the labor force (15 percent compared with 23 percent). This pattern was also seen at each level of educational attainment, although men with a bachelor's degree and higher spent only slightly more weeks employed than similarly educated women (84 percent and 82 percent, respectively).

Individuals born from 1980 to 1984 spent 70 percent of weeks employed from ages 18 to 23, 78 percent of weeks employed from ages 24 to 29, and 79 percent of weeks employed from ages 30 to 36. Men were employed a higher percentage of weeks than women within all age brackets.

As these individuals aged, they generally spent less time out of the labor force: 24 percent of weeks from ages 18 to 23, 16 percent of weeks from ages 24 to 29, and 17 percent of weeks from ages 30 to 36. From ages 30 to 36, women spent about twice as many weeks not in the labor force (23 percent) as men (11 percent).

These data are from the National Longitudinal Surveys. To learn more, see “Labor Market Experience, Partner Status, and Health for those Born 1980-1984.” The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 consists of men and women who were born in the years 1980–84 and were ages 12 to 17 when the survey began in 1997. These individuals were ages 36 to 42 in 2021–22.