Labor Force:
"The labor force includes all persons classified as employed or unemployed in accordance with the definitions contained in this glossary."
Labor Force Participation Rate:
"The labor force as a percent of the civilian noninstitutional population."
Employed Persons:
"Persons 16 years and over in the civilian noninstitutional population who, during the reference week, (a) did any work at all (at least 1 hour) as paid employees; worked in their own business, profession, or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of the family; and (b) all those who were not working but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad weather, childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labor-management dispute, job training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off or were seeking other jobs. Each employed person is counted only once, even if he or she holds more than one job. Excluded are persons whose only activity consisted of work around their own house (painting, repairing, or own home housework) or volunteer work for religious, charitable, and other organizations."
Unemployed Persons:
"Persons aged 16 years and older who had no employment during the reference week, were available for work, except for temporary illness, and had made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week. Persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off need not have been looking for work to be classified as unemployed."
The labor force statistic, therefore, does NOT include retirees, people under 16, prisoners, and active duty military.
The labor force participation rate is based on the total noninstitutional civilian population, which DOES include retirees and people under 16, but NOT prisoners or active duty military.
When talking about statistics, it's always helpful to understand the definitions on which they are based, even though those definitions may not make sense.
Specifically, as has been pointed out many times, their definition of "unemployed" deliberately understates the true number of unemployed persons, no doubt for political reasons.
While the level of labor force participation declined — due not only to potentially discouraged workers but also baby boomers hitting retirement age...