Three Labor Market Stats That Should Send SHIVERS DOWN YOUR SPINE this Halloween

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The BLS warns of a looming drop in labor force participation, projecting it to fall to 60.4% by 2032, down from around 62.5% today—Compared to the present day, that’s a deficit of roughly 6 million workers. With Baby Boomers exiting the workforce faster than a vampire at sunrise, who will create the goods and services to support our aging population?

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In 1980, prime-age men were a robust 38% of the workforce, but by mid-2024, they’ve dwindled to under 34%. Over the years, their labor force participation rate has dropped from a robust 94% to a mere 89%, leaving about 2.6 million prime-age men mysteriously absent from the job market, haunting the economy from the sidelines.

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Let’s assume workers enter the labor force at 16 and leave it at 65. For decades, adding new 16-year-olds and subtracting new 65-year-olds has given us a positive net increase in workers—like a steady lifeline to the labor market. But in 2027, this figure drops like a stone. For the first time, we’ll see a negative number, with more workers leaving than joining.

There’s no silver bullet to avoid the challenges that are coming, but globalization, automation, immigration, and local workforce development can all help solve worker shortages. The Rising Storm breaks down the shortages ahead, and how you can adapt to build a future-ready workforce.

As new blood becomes frightfully scarce, organizations across the labor market face a difficult path. As fun as spooky season is, fear doesn’t help solve these very real challenges facing the global workforce—preparation does.

Thanks for reading On The Job. This is just a small sample of the data and insight available in The Rising Storm , which is out now and free to download. Be sure to catch up on our past issues of On The Job (including “Why Do Older and Younger Generations Look at work Differently? ", which also features highlights from The Rising Storm) and you can also subscribe here . We’ll see you next time.