In Table A-16 "People not in the labor force and multiple jobholders by sex, not seasonally adjusted," the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports for **June 2026**: "Total not in the labor force" = **104,968** (numbers in thousands). This corresponds to approximately **104.968 million** people age 16 and over who are not in the labor force. The same table also shows "People who currently want a job" = 6,463 (thousand), indicating that within those not in the labor force, a subset does want a job but is not counted as unemployed because they are not actively looking for work or are unavailable to take a job.

In the Employment Situation news release for **June 2026**, BLS Household Data Table A-16 states: "Total not in the labor force" for June 2026 is **104,968** (numbers in thousands). The table notes that this is the total number of people not in the labor force, including those who do and do not currently want a job. It further lists subcategories such as "People who currently want a job" (6,463 thousand), "Marginally attached to the labor force" (1,782 thousand), and "Discouraged workers" (392 thousand).

In the Employment Situation Summary, Household Data Table A shows the series "Not in labor force" (LNS15000000, seasonally adjusted). For early **2026**, the table reports monthly values around **105 million**: for example, one line shows "Not in labor force" with values 103,205; 104,959; 104,976; **105,808**; 832 (numbers in thousands), where 105,808 corresponds to **105.808 million** persons not in the labor force. These figures refer to persons age 16 and over who are neither employed nor unemployed.

Table A-1 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics "Employment Situation" release for June 2026 lists, under "Not in labor force," the figure "105,808" (in thousands), meaning 105,808,000 people. The same table notes that this category refers to persons in the civilian noninstitutional population who are neither employed nor unemployed (i.e., they are not working and not actively looking for work).

BLS Table A-1, "Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age," for June 2026 shows the time series for "Not in labor force" with monthly values: "... 102,242 105,253 104,968 103,205 104,283 104,771 104,959 104,976 105,808" (figures in thousands). The table also includes "People who currently want a job" with June 2026 at "6,045" (thousands), indicating that within the not-in-labor-force group, a subset express that they currently want a job even though they are not counted as looking for work under the labor force definition.

The Current Population Survey (CPS) overview for June 2026 notes key labor force measures, including that the "Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate" was 61.5% and the "Employment-Population Ratio" was 59.0%. It explains that the CPS classifies people as employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force, and that those not in the labor force are neither working nor looking for work. These CPS concepts underlie the "not in the labor force" totals reported in the monthly Employment Situation release.

Table A-38 shows persons not in the labor force by desire and availability for work.[1] For June 2026, the line "Total not in the labor force" is reported as 105,836 (in thousands), meaning 105.836 million people age 16 and over were not in the labor force.[1] Of these, 6,016 (thousands) wanted a job, while the remainder did not currently want a job.[1]

FRED’s technical documentation for labor force series explains that in these data "n = Not in the labor force level" and that the series derive from the Current Population Survey. The description notes that the time series begin in January 1948 and end in December 2024 for these historical files, and that the not-in-the-labor-force series is measured as a level (number of persons) consistent with BLS labor force concepts.

According to the October jobs report, more than 92 million Americans — 37% of the civilian population aged 16 and over — are neither employed nor unemployed, but fall in the category of "not in the labor force."[16] That means they aren’t working now but haven’t looked for work recently enough to be counted as unemployed.[16] Last month, according to BLS, 85.9 million adults didn’t want a job now, or 93.3% of all adults not in the labor force.[16]

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), people who are neither working nor looking for work are counted as "not in the labor force."[2] As of February 2025, data from the BLS indicates that 102.5 million people, aged 16 or older, were not in the labor force.[2] During the COVID-19 pandemic, this figure surged sharply, rising from 95.2 million in February 2020 to a historically high 103.6 million in April 2020, and since then has remained around 100 million with an upward trend.[2]

In October 2024, the inactive labor force amounted to about 100.81 million people in the United States.[11] The labor force is made up of the employed and the unemployed. The remainder — those who have no job and are not looking for one — are counted as "not in the labor force."[11] Many who are not in the labor force are going to school or are retired, while family responsibilities keep others out of the labor force.[11]

CNBC, citing Labor Department data for June 2026, reports: "In June alone, the labor force, a measure of those either employed or not employed and looking for work, plummeted by 720,000. Similarly, the rolls of those counted as not in the labor force, a group that includes the unemployed and those not looking for work, jumped by 832,000." The article notes that the labor force participation rate fell to 61.5%, "the lowest since March 2021," highlighting the recent increase in the number of people counted as not in the labor force.

In general, the U.S. "labor force" is defined as everyone who has a job or is seeking one—in other words, workers plus the unemployed.[9] Nonworkers who aren’t seeking a job are defined as "out of the labor force."[9] There are also millions of other Americans who aren’t seeking work but say they’d like to have a job; as of March 2021, just under 5 percent of the prime-age population was actively searching for work (unemployed), while the remaining 19 percent of the prime-age population doesn’t have a job and isn’t looking for one.[9]

A post from "The Kobeissi Letter" states: "The number of Americans who are not in the labor force rose by +832,000 in June, to 105.8 million, an all-time high. These are people who are neither employed nor actively looking for work. This is now 2.2 million above the 2020 pandemic peak, when the global economy was shut down." The post further claims that "As a % of the population aged 16+, this figure is up to 38.5%, the highest since the 1970s, excluding the pandemic period," and compares this to "68.7 million Americans [who] were not in the labor force at the beginning of this century."

The vast majority of persons outside the civilian labor force (age 16+) are there by choice.[10] The BLS reported that in July 2018, there were 94.1 million persons age 16+ outside the labor force. Of these, 88.6 million (94%) did not want a job while 5.5 million (6%) wanted a job.[10] BLS defines those who "do not want a job now" as people who have not looked for work within the last 4 weeks.[10]

A briefing from the Economic Policy Institute describes "missing workers" as "workers who are not in the labor force but who would be if job opportunities were strong" and estimates that "There are now 5.8 million workers who are not in the labor force but who would be if job opportunities were strong." The analysis finds that "more than 70 percent of the 5.8 million missing workers are under age 55," emphasizing that cyclical economic conditions can affect the number of people outside the labor force who nonetheless want a job.

An analysis of the June 2026 jobs report by The Fiscal Lab notes: "The broad category of ‘not in the labor force’ grew by a significant 832,000 in June." It further explains: "This aggregate covers retirees and others who are neither working nor looking for work in the four weeks prior to the survey period." The article highlights that this category includes many older Americans who are out of the labor force and are not searching for employment.

The June total sits 2.2 million above the prior high set during the 2020 shutdown period, and 2.5 million people have left the labor force so far in 2026.[4] Americans outside the workforce hit a record 105.8 million in June, according to the latest labor market data.[4] This figure counts people who are neither employed nor actively looking for work as being outside the labor force.[4]

Near the top of Table A1 of the December Jobs report is a count of people who are "not in the labor force," but currently want a job.[15] These are folks who aren’t working currently and haven’t actively looked for a job in the past four weeks — sometimes longer — but who would like to work.[15] In December, that number stood at 5.5 million, a 3% decrease from a year ago.[15]

A working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco notes that declining labor force participation among men has led to a growing share "not working and not looking for work." It documents that by 2023, the fraction of prime-age men who are "not working and not looking for work" had risen to 10.9%, "more than three times as high" as in earlier decades, illustrating longer-run trends in nonparticipation.

In its March 2026 jobs analysis, the EPIC Jobs Report describes the "civilian non-institutionalized population" as the number of U.S. residents age 16 and above who are not institutionalized and who "could be working, looking for work, or not in the labor force for any number of reasons." The report’s data table (sourced to BLS) includes a row "Not in Labor Force" with month-to-month changes expressed in thousands, illustrating that a large portion of this population is classified as not in the labor force and thus not counted as employed or unemployed.

A Congressional Research Service report on labor force participation explains that the "not in the labor force" category in BLS data "includes retirees, students, those taking care of family, and others who are neither working nor looking for work." It emphasizes that this group is heterogeneous and that many people counted as "not in the labor force" are not seeking work by choice rather than because of discouragement. The report uses BLS CPS data as its primary source when discussing the size of the not-in-labor-force population in recent years.

At a time when the United States is struggling with labor shortages, nearly 20% of prime-age adults—approximately 24 million Americans aged 25-54—are not working.[8] The vast majority of these people, roughly 21 million, are not even looking for work and are therefore "out of the labor force."[8] Only three million prime-age adults are seeking work and so are "unemployed."[8]

A January 2026 commentary on the BLS report notes: "In January, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job decreased by 399,000 to **5.8 million**. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job." It continues: "Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force changed little at **1.7 million** in January." This illustrates that within the much larger "not in the labor force" total, millions still say they want a job but are not actively searching.

The BLS and FRED series cited above are standard, widely used measures of the U.S. labor force and not-in-labor-force population and underpin most official reporting and analysis on these topics. In these statistics, the count of "not in the labor force" expressly refers to individuals in the civilian noninstitutional population age 16+ who are neither employed nor unemployed (not actively seeking work), which aligns with the common-language description "not in the labor force and not looking for work."

Economists refer to this third group of those who are not working and not looking for work as out of the labor force or not in the labor force.[12] Thus, a person who does not have a job but who is not currently available to work or has not actively looked for work in the last four weeks is counted as out of the labor force.[12] An illustrative numerical example in the text shows "Not in Labor Force = 80 + 25 = 105," indicating how a total of 105 individuals can be classified as out of the labor force in a hypothetical population.[12]

Plus, a record 105 million Americans are now neither working nor looking.[6] In June, roughly 832,000 people stopped working and stopped looking for work, all in a single month. That pushed the number of folks outside the labor force to about 105.8 million, the most in American history, based on BLS via FRED "Not in Labor Force" data.[6]