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Labor force participation rate lowest since the 1970s.. true but from the end of W.W.II through 1976 the rate was lower than today.

From BLS

Civilian noninstitutional population: Persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, who are not inmates of institutions (e.g., penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged), and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.
Civilian labor force: All persons in the civilian noninstitutional population classified as either employed or unemployed. [I assume part-time is counted.]

I can see following W.W.II that labor force participation would shrink. I recall in those days we had full employment at times with 3-percent unemployment. The economic woes that I recall were just periodic business cycles and coming back stronger than before.

Biggest factor would be females not in the labor force. Can you imagine that.. one spouse working was enough to support a family and pay off the mortgage -- it wasn't just in the movies.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

These tables can be obtained here: go to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey (CPS). Requires Java. Make your selections. I asked for quarterly data and took the fourth (or last available) quarter annualized data from each table.

RE: White slaves?

Actually the Irish were at times treated worst than slaves. The area of the U.S. with slavery used low-paid Irish workers where there was a danger of death of injury. The slave owners were not about to sacrifice their "property"; to wit,

"Above all, the planters regarded the slaves as investments, into which they had sunk nearly $2 billion of their capital by 1860; slaves were the primary form of wealth in the South and as such they were cared for as any asset is cared for by a prudent capitalist Accordingly, [slaves] were sometimes spared dangerous work and if a neck was going to be broken, the master preferred it to be that of a wage-earning Irish laborer rather than that of a prime field hand, worth $1,800 by 1860 (price had quintupled since 1800)"

https://www.apstudynotes.org/us-history/outlines/chapter-16-the-south-and-the-slavery-controversy-1793-1860/