A record number of American men were outside the labor force last month, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The BLS reports that in November 38,151,000 American men (ages 16 and older) were neither employed nor had made a specific effort to find work in the previous four weeks. While other categories of Americans experienced improvements in their participation levels, the number of American men not in the workforce increased by 178,000 from October’s level of 37,973,000.

Based on historical data, the 38,151,000 American men not in the labor force is a record going back to the first available data in June of 1976 when just 15,349,000 men were out of the workforce.

The participation rate for men was 68.6 percent, declining 0.1 percent from October’s level of 68.7 percent. The 68.6 percent participation rate is also a record in a history that goes back as far as January 1948 — the earliest available participation data — when the participation rate for men was 85.2 percent.

Meanwhile in November 79,103,000 men were employed and 4,323,000 were unemployed. The unemployment rate for men was 5.2 percent.

Overall the economy added 211,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent. There were 94,446,000 Americans were outside the labor force and

(H/T Free Beacon)