{
  "id": "labor-force-participation-rate",
  "version": "0f7a18629bdd",
  "status": "published",
  "name": "Labor Force Participation Rate Calculator",
  "question": "The labor force participation rate",
  "summary": "Computes the labor force participation rate from employed, unemployed and the civilian noninstitutional population, with the unemployment rate and employment-population ratio.",
  "category": "finance",
  "subcategory": "business",
  "url": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/labor-force-participation-rate-calculator",
  "markdown": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/labor-force-participation-rate-calculator.md",
  "kind": "function",
  "method": "Labor force = employed + unemployed; participation rate = labor force ÷ civilian noninstitutional population × 100; unemployment rate = unemployed ÷ labor force × 100; employment-population ratio = employed ÷ population × 100.",
  "assumptions": [
    "The BLS Current Population Survey definitions: people 16 and over, not in the armed forces or institutions.",
    "All three numbers are in the same unit (people, thousands or millions); the rates do not depend on the unit."
  ],
  "inputs": {
    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "emp": {
        "title": "Employed",
        "description": "People who did any work for pay or profit in the survey week, in any one unit (people, thousands or millions).",
        "type": "number",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000000
      },
      "unemp": {
        "title": "Unemployed",
        "description": "People without a job who were available and looked for work in the past 4 weeks, in the same unit.",
        "type": "number",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000000
      },
      "pop": {
        "title": "Civilian noninstitutional population, 16 and over",
        "description": "Everyone 16 and older not in the armed forces or in an institution such as a prison or nursing home, in the same unit.",
        "type": "number",
        "minimum": 0.000001,
        "maximum": 1000000000000
      }
    }
  },
  "outputs": {
    "lfpr": {
      "label": "Labor force participation rate",
      "description": "Labor force ÷ population × 100.",
      "format": "percent"
    },
    "unemploymentRate": {
      "label": "Unemployment rate",
      "description": "Unemployed ÷ labor force × 100.",
      "format": "percent"
    },
    "employmentRatio": {
      "label": "Employment-population ratio",
      "description": "Employed ÷ population × 100.",
      "format": "percent"
    },
    "laborForce": {
      "label": "Labor force",
      "description": "Employed + unemployed, in the unit you typed.",
      "format": "number"
    },
    "notInLaborForce": {
      "label": "Not in the labor force",
      "description": "Population − labor force, in the unit you typed.",
      "format": "number"
    }
  },
  "defaultAnswer": {
    "inputs": {
      "emp": 155.175,
      "unemp": 6.877,
      "pop": 262.029
    },
    "outputs": {
      "lfpr": 61.8450629510474,
      "unemploymentRate": 4.243699553229828,
      "employmentRatio": 59.2205442908991,
      "laborForce": 162.052,
      "notInLaborForce": 99.977
    },
    "text": "The labor force participation rate is 61.8%, with an unemployment rate of 4.2%."
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "given": {
        "emp": 155.175,
        "unemp": 6.877,
        "pop": 262.029
      },
      "expect": {
        "lfpr": 61.8450629510474,
        "unemploymentRate": 4.243699553229828,
        "laborForce": 162.052,
        "notInLaborForce": 99.977
      },
      "source": "OpenStax, Principles of Macroeconomics 3e, §8.1, Table 8.1 (U.S. November 2021: adult population 262.029 million, labor force 162.052 million, employed 155.175, unemployed 6.877; participation 61.8%, unemployment 4.2%); https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cps/concepts.htm",
      "tolerance": 1e-12
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "emp": 60,
        "unemp": 5,
        "pop": 100
      },
      "expect": {
        "lfpr": 65,
        "unemploymentRate": 7.6923076923076925,
        "employmentRatio": 60,
        "notInLaborForce": 35
      },
      "source": "BLS Handbook of Methods, CPS concepts (participation rate = labor force ÷ civilian noninstitutional population × 100); hand calculation in content.mdx: 65 ÷ 100 = 65%, 5 ÷ 65 = 7.7%; https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cps/concepts.htm"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "emp": 0,
        "unemp": 4,
        "pop": 10
      },
      "expect": {
        "lfpr": 40,
        "unemploymentRate": 100,
        "employmentRatio": 0
      },
      "source": "BLS Handbook of Methods, CPS concepts (unemployment rate = unemployed ÷ labor force × 100); hand calculation; https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cps/concepts.htm"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    "US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Handbook of Methods: Current Population Survey, Concepts (civilian noninstitutional population, employed, unemployed, labor force, participation rate, unemployment rate, employment-population ratio), retrieved 2026-10-18. https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cps/concepts.htm",
    "OpenStax. Principles of Macroeconomics 3e, §8.1 How Economists Define and Compute Unemployment Rate (Table 8.1, November 2021), retrieved 2026-10-18. https://openstax.org/books/principles-macroeconomics-3e/pages/8-1-how-economists-define-and-compute-unemployment-rate"
  ],
  "related": [
    "gdp",
    "inflation",
    "percentage",
    "gdp-deflator"
  ],
  "changelog": []
}