Percentage Employed in US Continues Slide

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of people with jobs in the US continued to slide as a percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population through June 2010. Many economists believe that reporting the number employed as a percentage of the civilian population provides a more accurate description of the current state of employment than conjecturing the number of "unemployed" in a given population. Since 2000, employment in the US has declined from 64.4% to 59.5% as a percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population.

The BLS defines the civilian noninstitutional population and employment as follows:

The civilian noninstitutional population consists of persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 States and the District of Columbia who are not inmates of institutions (for example, penal and mental facilities and homes for the aged) and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.

Employment consists of all persons who, during the reference week (the calendar week including the twelfth day of the month), (a) did any work at all (at least 1 hour) as paid employees, worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of the family, or (b) were not working but had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad weather, childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labor-management dispute, job training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off or were seeking other jobs.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics