Number of Americans Not in Labor Force Reaches Record 105.8 Million

An estimated 111 million Americans age 16 and over were not in the labor force in July 2026, according to a report from ActivistPost.com citing government data. The figure surpasses levels recorded during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. A separate analysis from March 2024 placed the number at nearly 107 million, indicating that the upward trend has continued for more than two years.

What does “not in the labor force” mean?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics category “not in the labor force” (NILF) covers retirees, students, full-time caregivers, and individuals who are not actively seeking work. It is distinct from the official unemployment rate, which only counts people who have looked for a job in the prior four weeks. Because of that distinction, NILF can rise sharply even when headline unemployment appears stable.

The total has surged by more than 1 million since the pandemic-era low, and the labor force participation rate dropped to 59% in June, the lowest reading since September 2021, according to Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data cited in recent news reports.

Who makes up the NILF population?

Retirees form the largest share of the NILF population, a pattern tied to the aging Baby Boomer cohort. In the book “Older workers,” researcher Sara E. Rix noted that early retirement frequently follows health problems or disability, and that trend has accelerated in recent years.

A separate analysis from “Coping with Methuselah” found 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 over the same period. Both findings point to long-running structural shifts in retirement behavior rather than a recent anomaly.

According to the ActivistPost report, 55% of non-workers are on some form of government transfer, a category that includes disability benefits, Social Security, and other programs. The same report noted that roughly 5.3 million workers have dropped out because they are discouraged or have stopped looking for work entirely.

Why are prime-age men leaving the workforce?

Labor economist Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute documented what he called a “flight from work of prime-age men” in his 2016 book “Men Without Work.” An earlier NaturalNews.com report, citing the Atlanta Federal Reserve, observed that people in the 25-54 age group are historically the most likely to participate in the labor market, which makes their declining participation especially significant.

Researcher Ed Dowd argued in a 2023 interview that the shrinking workforce is not the product of a tight labor market. Instead, he attributed the decline to “death, disability, and injury” removing millions of workers. In earlier interview data, Dowd estimated that approximately 5,000 individuals are added to the disabled population each day. Combined with nearly 2,500 excess deaths per day, about 7,500 people are removed from the potential workforce every day. Dowd noted that about 1.7 million of those removed had been employed before their disability or death.

Mike Adams, in a Brighteon Broadcast News episode, added that the highest rates of excess mortality and disability are concentrated among people who previously held jobs, creating labor shortages in sectors ranging from airlines to banking.

How does the U.S. compare with other aging societies?

Other aging nations, including Japan and several European countries, have seen workforce participation rates rise even as their populations grow older, according to economists cited in recent reports. That contrast suggests the American NILF crisis is not simply a demographic inevitability. It appears to reflect specific health outcomes and policy choices.

In the book “America’s old age crisis,” Stephen Crystal examined how aging populations can shift retirement funds from capital creation toward pure transfer mechanisms. That shift is a concern shared by many developed economies, but the U.S. trajectory appears more severe than its peers.

Could AI displacement make the trend worse?

The report “The Twin Economic Superstorms” warned that artificial intelligence replacing human jobs could intensify the trend, predicting a wave of layoffs on top of the existing dropouts. The concern is that AI displacement will arrive while the labor force is already contracting from health-related causes.

Some commentators have proposed universal basic income (UBI) as a response. Dowd cautioned against that approach, arguing that a guaranteed income would worsen dropouts because many jobless men already spend roughly 2,000 hours a year in front of screens and are disengaged from civil society. He described current transfer practices as “a great warm-up act for becoming a statistic in deaths of despair,” echoing warnings issued by labor economists who study long-term NILF growth.

FAQ

How many Americans are not in the labor force in 2026?

An estimated 111 million Americans age 16 and over were not in the labor force in July 2026, surpassing levels recorded during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from ActivistPost.com citing government data.

What is the difference between NILF and unemployment?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts people as unemployed only if they have actively looked for work in the prior four weeks. The “not in the labor force” category includes retirees, students, caregivers, discouraged workers, and anyone else not seeking employment, which is why NILF can grow even when the unemployment rate stays flat.

Why are prime-age men dropping out of the workforce?

Researcher Ed Dowd has estimated that about 7,500 people are removed from the potential workforce every day through a combination of disability additions (around 5,000 per day) and excess deaths (around 2,500 per day). He argues that this loss, rather than a tight labor market, is driving the decline in prime-age participation.

This article summarizes reporting from naturalnews.com. See our editorial disclaimer for how our articles are produced.