The Working Poor Confound the Experts

The left and the right alike have pounced on the drop in Americans’ labor force participation rate to score political points. The rate tied an almost 37-year low of 62.7 percent in December, according to data released on Jan. 9 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the poorest families are the least likely to be in the labor force.

So this factoid should come as a big surprise: Low-income families are the only ones whose participation rate has risen. The average for families in the lowest tenth of households by income rose by 11 percentage points over a 13-year period, to just under 44 percent. The participation rate of families in the top tenth of incomes fell by a little more than 3 percentage points, to just under 80 percent. To put it simply, the poor have been stepping forward while the rich have been stepping back.