For the first time in 11 years, four-fifths of all Americans in their prime working years have a job.
The percentage of people from the ages of 25 to 54 who were working in August climbed to 80% from 79.5% in July, touching the highest level since the start of 2008, the government said Friday.
Read: U.S. creates just 130,000 new jobs in August, keeping Fed on track to cut rates
That’s a big deal. Prime-age workers are big home buyers and consumers compared to younger Americans just starting out, those nearing retirement or people who’ve already retired. They play a huge role in how fast the economy grows.
The percentage of these people holding a job had fallen to a 26-year low of 74.8% after the 2007-2009 Great Recession. Soft growth in the early years of economic recovery was partly a result of slow rebound in the share of prime-age workers, as reflected by a surge at the time in the number of young adults still living with their parents.
“The growth is exciting because it shows that, rather than declining, participation [in the labor market] may still have room to grow,” said Julia Pollack, labor economist at ZipRecruiter, an online job-search site.
Yet matching the record would likely require the economy to grow for several more years and avoid recession. The share of primetime workers peaked at 81.9% in early 2000 at the height of the internet boom.
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