Talent 2025 recently released their Labor Force Participation Rate research brief. The rate is an important measure of the health of the economy. While the unemployment rate measures the number of individuals who are not working and looking for work as a proportion of the number of individuals in the labor force, the labor force participation rate looks at the size of the labor force compared to the total adult population.
Historically our region struggles with a low labor participation rate (meaning people are voluntarily opting out of work or seeking work). The report puts together seven key recommendations on how employers can engage workers and pushes employers to think differently about their recruitment or hiring practices.