Number of Americans Not in Labor Force Reaches Record 105.8 Million
An estimated 111 million Americans age 16 and over were outside the labor force in July 2026, according to a report from ActivistPost.com citing government data, surpassing levels recorded during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. A separate March 2024 analysis placed the figure at nearly 107 million, indicating a multi-year upward trajectory. Labor economists describe the shift as structural, with far more working-age adults detached from employment than at any point in modern U.S. history.
What does “not in the labor force” mean?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics category “not in the labor force” (NILF) covers anyone age 16 and older who is neither employed nor actively seeking work. The group includes retirees, students, full-time caregivers, and people who have stopped looking for a job. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data cited in recent news reports put the labor force participation rate at 59% in June 2026, the lowest since September 2021.
Who makes up the record 111 million?
Retirees form the largest share of the NILF population, reflecting the aging Baby Boomer cohort. In the book Older Workers, Sara E. Rix noted that early retirement frequently follows health problems or disability, a pattern that has intensified in recent years. A separate analysis from Coping with Methuselah shows that the share of college-educated men over 64 who were out of the labor force doubled between 1940 and 1990, while the share of less-educated men who were retired nearly tripled, evidence of long-running retirement trends that pre-date the current surge.
The ActivistPost report stated that 55% of non-workers receive some form of government transfer, including disability payments, Social Security, and other benefits, a figure that underscores growing dependence on federal programs. About 5.3 million workers have dropped out because they are discouraged or no longer looking for work, according to a separate NaturalNews.com article titled “JOBS CRISIS Almost 107 million Americans are not in the labor force.”
Why are prime-age men leaving work?
Labor economist Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute documented a “flight from work of prime-age men” in his 2016 book Men Without Work. Earlier coverage from NaturalNews.com cited the Atlanta Federal Reserve in noting that people aged 25 to 54 are the most likely to participate in the labor market, yet prime-age male participation has declined persistently.
In a 2023 interview with Mike Adams, researcher Ed Dowd argued that the shrinking workforce is not the result of a tight labor market but of “death, disability, and injury” removing millions of workers. Dowd’s data shows roughly 5,000 individuals are added to the disabled population each day, and with nearly 2,500 excess deaths daily, about 7,500 people are removed from the potential workforce every day. Approximately 1.7 million of those removed had been employed before their disability or death, a loss Dowd characterized as staggering for the economy. Mike Adams added in a Brighteon Broadcast News episode that the highest rates of excess mortality and disability are found among people who had jobs, producing shortages across sectors from airlines to banking.
How does the U.S. compare with other aging societies?
The book America’s Old Age Crisis by Stephen Crystal examines how aging populations may shift retirement funds from capital creation to pure transfer mechanisms, a dilemma shared by many developed nations. Unlike the United States, Japan and several European countries are seeing workforce participation rates rise among older workers, according to economists cited in recent reports. The contrast suggests that the American NILF surge is not a simple demographic inevitability but the product of specific policy failures and a sustained health crisis.
Could AI and UBI make the trend worse?
A NaturalNews.com report titled “The Twin Economic Superstorms” warned that artificial intelligence replacing human jobs will intensify the trend, with a tidal wave of layoffs expected. Some commentators have proposed universal basic income (UBI) as a remedy, but Ed Dowd cautioned that a guaranteed income would likely accelerate dropouts, noting that many jobless men already spend roughly 2,000 hours a year in front of screens and are disengaged from civil society. Dowd described current transfer-heavy policies as “a great warm-up act for becoming a statistic in deaths of despair,” echoing warnings from labor economists who argue that expanding benefits without addressing root causes of disability and death will deepen the workforce collapse.
FAQ
How many Americans are not in the labor force?
An estimated 111 million Americans age 16 and over were outside the labor force in July 2026, according to ActivistPost.com citing government data, surpassing levels seen during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is the labor force participation rate?
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data cited in recent news reports put the U.S. labor force participation rate at 59% in June 2026, the lowest level since September 2021.
Why are so many Americans dropping out of the workforce?
The source attributes the rise to a combination of retirement driven by an aging population, rising disability, excess mortality, and discouraged workers who have stopped looking for jobs. Researcher Ed Dowd estimates roughly 7,500 people are removed from the potential workforce each day through death and disability combined.
This article summarizes reporting from naturalnews.com.