The labor force participation rate is the percentage of people in the labor force divided by the working-age population. (The labor force is defined as people employed plus people who are unemployed, but looking for work). This chart shows labor force participation by educational attainment for residents, age 25-64. Residents with higher levels of education tend to have higher labor force participation rates, but it is still important to find ways to bring people with lower educational levels into the labor force.
From 2023 to 2024, only people with a high school education saw an increase in labor force participation, rising by 0.4 percentage points. Participation rates for people with a bachelor's degree or more remained unchanged at 87.6%. Participation rates for people with so college or an associate’s degree fell by 0.3 percentage points to 79.4%, while participation rates for people with less than a high school education fell by 0.8 percentage points to 52.8%. Participation rates for all educational attainment levels in 2024 are either equal to, or slightly greater than, than their levels in 2019.