People marginally attached to the labor force down 432,000 in November 2019 from a year earlier

In November 2019, there were 1.2 million people marginally attached to the labor force, down by 432,000 from a year earlier. These are people who were not in the labor force, although they wanted work and were available for it and had looked for jobs at some point in the previous 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not actively searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

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Chart Data People marginally attached to the labor force, not seasonally adjusted, November 2009 to 2019 Month Marginally attached Discouraged workers Other people marginally attached to the labor force Nov 2009 2,323,000 861,000 1,462,000 Nov 2010 2,531,000 1,282,000 1,249,000 Nov 2011 2,591,000 1,096,000 1,495,000 Nov 2012 2,505,000 979,000 1,526,000 Nov 2013 2,096,000 762,000 1,334,000 Nov 2014 2,109,000 698,000 1,412,000 Nov 2015 1,717,000 594,000 1,123,000 Nov 2016 1,932,000 591,000 1,341,000 Nov 2017 1,481,000 469,000 1,012,000 Nov 2018 1,678,000 453,000 1,225,000 Nov 2019 1,246,000 325,000 921,000

Among the marginally attached, there were 325,000 discouraged workers in November 2019, down by 128,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are people not currently looking for work because they believe that there are no jobs available for them. The remaining 921,000 people who were marginally attached to the labor force in November had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are not seasonally adjusted. For more information, see “The Employment Situation — November 2019.” More charts featuring Current Population Survey data are presented in charts related to the latest "The Employment Situation" news release.

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RELATED SUBJECTS Labor Force

Unemployment