	Introduction

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines the employment-population ratio as the ratio of total civilian employment to the civilian noninstitutional population. Simply put, it is the portion of the adult population (16 years and older) that is employed. It is used primarily as a measure of job holders and to track the pace of job creation, relative to the adult population, over time. Recent estimates show that employment as a percentage of the civilian population has not returned to pre-recessionary levels. In November 2007, the employment-population ratio was 62.9%, indicating that 62.9% of the adult population had a job in that month. This rate fell steadily during the recession and several months beyond, before stabilizing around 58.5% in October 2009. Between October 2009 and March 2014, the ratio fluctuated within 0.3 percentage points of 58.5%. Since then, the employment-population rate has climbed slowly to 59.3%, its value in April 2015. Value as a Labor Market Indicator

Several features of the employment-population ratio make it an attractive employment indicator for labor market analysis. It is easy to interpret, and can be used to make meaningful comparisons across time and groups with dissimilar population size. Because it takes into account the impacts of both labor force participation and unemployment, it is a useful summary measure when those forces place countervailing pressures on employment. This can be seen mathematically through a simple decomposition:
That is:
Because the labor force is the sum of all employed and unemployed workers (i.e., labor force = employment + unemployment), the expression can be re-written in terms of the unemployment rate:
That is:
Changes in the employment-population ratio are therefore determined by changes in the labor force participation rate and changes in the unemployment rate (or, equivalently, by changes in the labor force participation rate and the employment rate). Limitations

Like all labor market indicators, the employment-population ratio has limits. It does not provide information about hours of work (i.e., whether jobs held are part-time or full-time), wages and benefits, or job quality. That is, additional information is needed to determine whether a drop in employment represents more people exiting employment or fewer new entrants. Taken together, these similarities and differences suggest that recent labor force participation patterns of young and older individuals have placed downward pressure on the overall employment-population ratio, but age factors do not fully explain its slow recovery.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines the employment-population ratio as the ratio of total civilian employment to the civilian noninstitutional population. Simply put, it is the portion of the population that is employed. The ratio is used primarily as a measure of job holders and to track the pace of job creation, relative to the adult population, over time.
The employment-population ratio has several properties that make it an attractive indicator for labor market analysis. It is easy to interpret and can be used to make meaningful comparisons across time and groups with dissimilar population size. Because it takes into account both the impacts of labor force participation and unemployment, it is a useful summary measure when those forces place countervailing pressures on employment. Like all labor market indicators, it has limits. For example, it does not distinguish between part-time and full-time employment, and it is silent on wages, benefits, and job conditions. Trends in the employment-population ratio also do not provide information about job flows (i.e., whether a drop in employment represents more people exiting employment or fewer new entrants).
Recent estimates show that employment as a percentage of the civilian population has not returned to pre-recessionary levels. In November 2007, the employment-population ratio was 62.9%, indicating that 62.9% of the adult population had a job in that month. This rate fell steadily during the recession and several months beyond, before stabilizing around 58.5% in October 2009. Between October 2009 and March 2014, the ratio fluctuated within 0.3 percentage points of 58.5%. Since then, the employment-population ratio has climbed slowly to 59.3%, its value in April 2015.
These patterns should be taken in the context of shifting demographics and other recent developments in the United States. Notably, the large baby boomer cohort has started to retire, and younger individuals are spending more time in school or otherwise delaying labor market entry. A comparison of recent employment-population ratio trends for the "prime-age" population (persons in the 25- to 54-year-age group) with those for the full adult population (persons 16 years and older) suggests that recent labor force participation patterns of young and older workers have placed downward pressure on the employment-population ratio, but age factors do not fully explain its slow recovery.