The number of people counted as “working aged” (15-79) that have left the labor market because they have reached retirement age (62+). (It’s somewhat disheartening that so many people cite to so many articles that fail to note that point … or if they do, it’s in a footnote on page 15.)

And I suspect that with the full implementation of ObamaCare, the number of people aged 55-62 leaving the labor market will, also, rise (further decreasing the PLR), as they find themselves with a pension and no healthcare insurance concern.

The problem with attributing lower participation to demographics is that there is a big breakdown in 2008-2009 that we know was primarily due to the economy collapsing, not to demographics.

We are drawing an "L"—waterfall drop in 2008-2009 followed by flatness ever since.

but some of them may have been in their 50s and 60s, collecting a pension AND still working. So when the economy went into the crapper, they collected unemployment for a while and then say "screw it, I am 61 and have a pension, I can live on that pension."

People only leave the labor market IFF they think they can afford it, otherwise, they pretty much have to keep looking for work.

reached retirement age (62) in 2009.

This cohort also were heavily employed in union protected jobs, i.e., 30 years and old with full retirement. When the ecomony tanked, they left the labor force with no real ill-effect.

this is awful. They need to work. Labor force participation rate should be 99.44% dammit.

Of the 86 million people who were not looking for work in 2011, 53.3% of them were 55 and older.

Of the 88.3 million people not looking in 2012, 54% of them were over age 55.

Of the increase in the number of people not looking for work of 2.3 million, 83% of them were over age 55.

http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat35.htm

I still say that a lower participation rate is not necessarily a bad thing at any age. I'd love very much to get married to Emma Watson tomorrow and call up my supervisor and say "fu%& you, I am not coming to work tonight."

Not trying to make it good news, but a couple of factors - older workers aren't retiring as fast as projected. There has always been the expectation that the labor force participation rate would decline as our population ages, and particularly as baby boomers retire. At present, however, older workers aren't leaving the workforce as fast as expected. The biggest driver is that younger people aren't entering the workforce nearly as fast as previous generations.



Not to paint a rosy picture or oversimplify, but younger people are much more likely to go to college than previously, and put off working.



Probably both sides of that - older people putting off retirement, and younger people spending more time in school - are driven by economics.

Lets hope that the better educated younger population finds the opportunities they are preparing themselves for, and that retirement becomes a good option for the older generation at some point.