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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”. Understanding the size and characteristics of individuals not in the labor force is crucial for a comprehensive assessment of the job market and overall economic health, as it provides insights into potential labor supply and demand issues.

Size

The number of people not in the labor force has been steadily increasing. As of February 2025, data from the BLS indicates that 102.5 million people, aged 16 or older, were not in the labor force. 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. Since then, the number has remained around 100 million, with a noticeable upward trend over the past year.

Characteristics

Data from the 2024 Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) offer valuable insights into why individuals are not in the labor force. The ASEC gathers information on employment and unemployment experienced during the previous calendar year. The data used in this article focus on individuals aged 16 years and older who neither worked nor looked for a job in 2023.

According to the analysis of the data from the 2024 CPS and ASEC, approximately 93.6 million people aged 16 or older were not in the labor force in 2023. Among this group, nearly 39 million (42%) were men, and 54.6 million (58%) were women.

In terms of age distribution, about 49% of those not in the labor force were aged 65 years or older. Additionally, 13% were between the ages of 55 and 64, 21% were between the ages of 25 and 54, and the remaining 17% were aged 24 or younger. Intuitively, people aged 65 years and older represented the largest share of individuals who were not in the labor force.

Regarding educational attainment, 51% of individuals not in the labor force had a high school diploma or lower. Those with some college education made up 24%, while individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher accounted for 25%.

The racial breakdown of those not in the labor force is as follows: 58.2 million were non-Hispanic white, 15.4 million were Hispanic, 11.7 million were Black, 5.9 million were Asian, and the remaining 2.5 million identified as other races.

Main Reason for Not Working

The group of people not in the labor force is diverse, and the reasons why individuals are not in the labor force vary widely.

In the CPS and ASEC data, the respondents were asked the main reason for not working. The reasons included: ill or disabled, retired, taking care of home or family, going to school, could not find work and other.

In 2023, a total of 93.6 million individuals aged 16 and older neither worked nor looked for work at any time during the year. Among this group, 48.6 million people reported retirement as their main reason for not working. Approximately 14.9 million individuals stated that they were attending school, while 14.7 million cited illness or disability as the main factor. Additionally, 12.7 million people indicated that taking care of home or family was the main reason for not working in 2023. Nearly 1.8 million individuals selected “other reasons,” and roughly 1.0 million cited “could not find work.”

Retirement is the main reason for not working for about half of the individuals not in the labor force in 2023. Among those aged 65 years and older, 91% of individuals in this group cited retirement as the main reason for not working. Overall, about 44% of individuals not in the labor force were due to the self-reported reason of retirement and aged 65 years and older. Individuals in this 44% share are unlikely to return to the labor force.

While an aging population is a major driver behind the growth of individuals not participating in the labor force, other reasons people give for not engaging in the workforce also play an important role.

For individuals aged 16 to 24, the majority cited going to school as the main reason not working in 2023. In other words, for those citing going to school, 87% were between the ages of 16 and 24. Overall, about 14% of the not-in-labor-force population was due to the self-reported reason of going to school and aged 16 to 24. This group is likely to enter the labor force after graduation, although younger individuals will likely replace them in education settings.

Prime-age workers, aged 25 to 54, historically represent a larger share of the labor force compared to other age groups. However, men and women in this age group have different reasons for not working in 2023. More than half of women (62%) reported taking care of home or family as the main reason for not working, while 48% of men cited illness or disability as their primary reason.

Among prime-age individuals, those with less education were more likely to be out of the labor force than their more educated counterparts. In 2023, 15% of prime-age men with a high school diploma or less were not in the labor force, compared to 10% of those with some college and 5% of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. The trend was similar among prime-age women, with 33% of those with a high school diploma or less not in the labor force, compared to 20% of those with some college and 13% of those with a bachelor’s degree or more.

It is difficult to predict with certainty whether prime-age individuals currently not in the labor force will enter it. However, several factors could encourage individuals to enter or return to the labor market, including improved economic conditions, the availability of remote work, workplace policies, and retraining opportunities.

Last, based on the CPS and ASEC data, only a small proportion of the remaining population reported the main reasons for not working were that they could not find work and other reasons.

Conclusion

These numbers highlight both challenges and opportunities in expanding the labor force to support construction employment. According to the BLS’s monthly job report, approximately 6% of individuals currently not in the labor force and aged 16 to 64 could potentially be recruited into the workforce. Furthermore, the construction labor force is aging. The building industry must recruit the next generation of workers as industry activity grows in the years ahead, given the growth in population not in the labor force.

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This article was originally published by a eyeonhousing.org . Read the Original article here. .



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6. Streamline the Routine

Think about all the morning’s tasks and the order in which you might complete them. Try to line them up so they work with your schedule and the layout of your house. This will allow you to follow a logical path around your home, accomplishing key goals in each space before moving on.

So you might get up, go to the kitchen for coffee and breakfast, then head back upstairs to shower, dress, dry hair and put on makeup. This simple course prevents doubling back and time-wasting.

If you’re not organized, you could make coffee, then zoom back up for a shower, then gobble breakfast with your hair in a towel, then race back up to dry it, then break off to feed the dog before running upstairs again to get dressed. Which method is more efficient?



This article was originally published by a
www.houzz.com . Read the Original article here. .



8. Light It Right

Lighting can make or break the mood in your kitchen, so it’s worth taking the time to get it right. A layered lighting scheme that includes a mix of task, ambient and accent lights will create a warm and inviting environment that’s perfect for socializing, whether you’re hosting a large-scale festive get-together or an intimate meal.

Think about adding undercabinet LEDs to brighten your work surfaces, a pendant light on a dimmer over the kitchen island so it can transition smoothly from prep zone to meals area, and wall sconces or directional downlights to highlight special features such as art.

How to Properly Light Your Kitchen Counters



This article was originally published by a www.houzz.com . Read the Original article here. .


It was huge news at the time: the National Association of Realtors (NAR) agreed in March to pay $418 million and make changes to how the home-buying process works in order to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the industry conspired to make agent commissions higher than they needed to be.

The provisions of the settlement go into effect on Aug. 17. For now, what consumers can expect is more paperwork, and potentially more confusion. 

“This is a grand social experiment,” says Leo Pareja, the CEO of exp Realty, one of the biggest real-estate brokerages in the country. “None of us know what’s about to happen.” 

Buyers now have to sign a contract

Here’s how the process used to work: a seller’s agent would list a home on an MLS, or multiple listing service, which is a database of properties for sale. Those listings would state that the seller of a home would pay a certain amount to compensate the buyer’s agent. This compensation was often about 3% of the sales price, which was also about what the seller’s agent would get from the seller. (The average amount ranges between jurisdictions and even from sale to sale; some agents were also paid flat fees.) 

Technically, those fees were negotiable. But most homeowners either didn’t know that or feel they could negotiate. In addition, home sellers allege, real-estate agents would sometimes “steer” buyers to specific homes based on the amount of compensation they could receive. As of Aug. 17, real-estate agents cannot list any sort of agent compensation when they put a house on multiple listing services, a change designed to eliminate steering.

Read More: Stop Looking For Your Forever Home.

In addition, both buyers and sellers are now required to sign a written agreement with their agent before the agent shows them a property or assists with a transaction. The buyer’s side of this is more consequential—most sellers have signed these contracts in the past, but few buyers did. In the new buyers’ contract, sometimes called an “exclusive representation agreement,” the buyer agrees to work with the agent for a certain period of time. Most importantly, the buyer and agent also agree on how the agent will be compensated, whether through a flat fee, a specific share of the purchase price, or another method. Agents must also make clear in this contract that broker commissions are fully negotiable, a change that consumer advocates hope will drive commissions—and prices—down.

Many real-estate agents say the changes are positive, including Jennifer Stevenson, a real-estate agent in upstate New York and a regional vice president for the National Association of Realtors. “This makes the process better,” she says. “Clients are going to understand exactly what is expected of me and what I am offering them as a service.”

But others aren’t so sure that the changes will be positive for consumers. Realtor associations across the country have been releasing drafts of contracts that are extremely lengthy and written in legal terms that are difficult to understand, says Tanya Monestier, a law professor at the University of Buffalo. The draft buyer agreement from the North Carolina Association of Realtors, for instance, is seven pages long.

Read More: When Should I Buy A House?

Monestier analyzed the draft agreement by the California Association of Realtors (CAR) for the Consumer Federation of America, and issued a report criticizing the agreement for being opaque—so opaque, in fact, that Monestier says she had trouble getting through the document. “No seller will read this monster of a document—much less be able to understand it,” she concluded. 

Not all new buyer forms are so dense. Monestier says she reviewed a few forms that were clear; those from Exp Realty, for instance, are just two pages long and explicitly spell out buyer and seller responsibilities. Exp has made these forms available to any company that wants to use them, says Pareja, the CEO. 

Compensation may be changing

Before the NAR settlement, it was standard for the seller to pay for both the seller and the buyer’s agents. That may not be the case going forward.

In tight housing markets, sellers could refuse to pay for the buyer’s agent because they have so much interest in their home. Instead, agent’s fees may become a bigger part of the negotiation when people are buying homes. If a buyer really wants a house, for instance, they could offer to pay the seller’s agent fees, and include that provision in their offer letter. Conversely, if a seller in a slow market is desperate to unload their home, they could offer to pay the buyer’s agent fees—though the agent could not disclose that on the listing. 

Monestier says she also expects there will be more buyers who choose not to have an agent at all, because they don’t want to be on the hook for the agent’s fee. That could lead to less potential work for many of the real-estate agents out there.

Most of all, the settlement could lower compensation for both buyer’s and seller’s agents. Academic papers have predicted that fees could decline by 30-50% as a result, which would end up lowering home prices as well.

Of course, it’s possible that old habits are hard to break, and that not much will change at all. Sellers are accustomed to paying for buyers’ broker fees, and they may continue to do so. Even if everyone involved knows they can negotiate. 



This article was originally published by a time.com . Read the Original article here. .

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