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Prime-Age Employment Rate

Share of 25-to-54-year-olds who are employed.

80.8%
Percent · latest, May 2026
vs prior month ▲ 0.1 pp
vs year ago ▲ 0.3 pp
1948-49 Recession · Nov 1948 – Oct 19491953-54 Recession · Jul 1953 – May 19541957-58 Recession · Aug 1957 – Apr 19581960-61 Recession · Apr 1960 – Feb 19611969-70 Recession · Dec 1969 – Nov 19701973-75 Recession · Nov 1973 – Mar 19751980 Recession · Jan 1980 – Jul 19801981-82 Recession · Jul 1981 – Nov 19821990-91 Recession · Jul 1990 – Mar 19912001 Recession · Mar 2001 – Nov 2001Global Financial Crisis · Dec 2007 – Jun 2009COVID-19 Recession · Feb 2020 – Apr 202065%70%75%80%1950196019701980199020002010202080.8%

Hover the line to read any month. Drag across the chart to zoom; double-click to reset.

Source: FRED · LNS12300060 · series · Jan 1948 to May 2026 · latest-revised

Reading it. Restricts to ages 25-54, so it sidesteps the schooling and retirement shifts that pull on the headline employment and participation rates. A cleaner read on the core working-age job market.

About the bands. Shaded spans are NBER-dated US recessions, drawn as factual overlays. They mark when the economy contracted, not why. Lining an event or policy up with a move on this chart is not evidence that it caused the move.

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