Since bottoming out in early 2020, the U.S. economy has handily outperformed other major advanced countries, except in one crucial dimension: its labor force.
Between the fourth quarters of 2019 and 2021, the labor-force participation rate—the share of the population ages 15 to 64 either working or looking for work—dropped 0.7 percentage point in the U.S., while rising in Japan and Canada, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an association of advanced economies. The eurozone’s participation rate was also well above its pre-pandemic level in the third quarter, the latest for which data is available.
While much of the decline in the U.S. labor force is because of retirement, its participation rate for people ages 25 to 54 has also fallen more than in other countries.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. participation…
