labor force participation rate

Hello. I'd like to obtain the labor force participation rate for those persons 55 years and older. I think the ACS table I need is S2301, however, the percentages are for 5-year age groupings (e.g., 55-59 years, etc.). Are there other ACS tables with COUNTS so I can estimate rates for 55 years and older? I suppose I could simply use the percentages from the 5-year age groupings to estimate COUNTS and then sum the counts for the 5 year age groupings for 55 years and older. But this seems like a lot of extra work. Thanks!

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  • In my humble opinion (I'm new) if you find a table that gets you what you need even if you have to use several fields, consider that a win. I use S2301 because that's what I found was the best for the labor force. I also look at S2303 hours worked, S2401 service industry, B99087 worked from home as these are often used and are also interesting. Pulling from the API is very easy and only gives you the fields you want, so hopefully, you're using these (you can group like tables into one API, just note there are exceptions and not all tables with the same letter code are necessarily the same.  

    These are the subject tables and fields I use (if it helps), this example is for all counties ACS1, just edit ACS1 to acs5 and it works great.

    https://api.census.gov/data/2021/acs/acs1/subject?get=S0101_C01_001E,S0101_C01_030E,S0101_C01_032E,S0101_C02_002E,S0101_C02_022E,S0101_C02_026E,S0101_C05_001E,S1101_C01_002E,S1101_C01_004E,S1101_C01_019E,S1501_C02_005E,S1501_C02_015E,S1701_C03_001E,S1701_C03_002E,S1701_C03_003E,S1701_C03_010E,S1901_C01_002E,S1901_C01_011E,S1901_C01_013E,S2101_C04_001E,S2201_C04_001E,S2301_C02_001E,S2301_C04_001E,S2303_C01_031E,S2401_C01_018E,S2701_C01_017E,S2701_C01_023E,S2701_C01_024E,S2701_C01_032E,S2701_C01_035E,S2701_C05_001E,S2701_C05_002E,S2701_C05_011E,NAME&for=county:*

    S0101_C01_001E Estimate!!Total!!Total population
    S0101_C01_030E Estimate!!Total!!Total population!!SELECTED AGE CATEGORIES!!65 years and over
    S0101_C01_032E Estimate!!Total!!Total population!!SUMMARY INDICATORS!!Median age (years)
    S0101_C02_002E Estimate!!Percent!!Total population!!AGE!!Under 5 years
    S0101_C02_022E Estimate!!Percent!!Total population!!SELECTED AGE CATEGORIES!!Under 18 years
    S0101_C02_026E Estimate!!Percent!!Total population!!SELECTED AGE CATEGORIES!!18 years and over
    S0101_C05_001E Estimate!!Female!!Total population
    S1101_C01_002E Estimate!!Total!!HOUSEHOLDS!!Average household size
    S1101_C01_004E Estimate!!Total!!FAMILIES!!Average family size
    S1101_C01_019E Estimate!!Total!!Total households!!HOUSING TENURE!!Renter-occupied housing units
    S1501_C02_005E Estimate!!Percent!!AGE BY EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT!!Population 18 to 24 years!!Bachelor's degree or higher
    S1501_C02_015E Estimate!!Percent!!AGE BY EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT!!Population 25 years and over!!Bachelor's degree or higher
    S1701_C03_001E Estimate!!Percent below poverty level!!Population for whom poverty status is determined
    S1701_C03_002E Estimate!!Percent below poverty level!!Population for whom poverty status is determined!!AGE!!Under 18 years
    S1701_C03_003E Estimate!!Percent below poverty level!!Population for whom poverty status is determined!!AGE!!Under 18 years!!Under 5 years
    S1701_C03_010E Estimate!!Percent below poverty level!!Population for whom poverty status is determined!!AGE!!65 years and over
    S1901_C01_002E Estimate!!Households!!Total!!Less than $10,000
    S1901_C01_011E Estimate!!Households!!Total!!$200,000 or more
    S1901_C01_013E Estimate!!Households!!Mean income (dollars)
    S2101_C04_001E Estimate!!Percent Veterans!!Civilian population 18 years and over
    S2201_C04_001E Estimate!!Percent households receiving food stamps/SNAP!!Households
    S2301_C02_001E Estimate!!Labor Force Participation Rate!!Population 16 years and over
    S2301_C04_001E Estimate!!Unemployment rate!!Population 16 years and over
    S2303_C01_031E Estimate!!Total!!Population 16 to 64 years!!Mean usual hours worked for workers
    S2401_C01_018E Estimate!!Total!!Civilian employed population 16 years and over!!Service occupations:
    S2701_C01_017E Estimate!!Total!!Civilian noninstitutionalized population!!RACE AND HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN!!Black or African American alone
    S2701_C01_023E Estimate!!Total!!Civilian noninstitutionalized population!!RACE AND HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN!!Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
    S2701_C01_024E Estimate!!Total!!Civilian noninstitutionalized population!!RACE AND HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN!!White alone, not Hispanic or Latino
    S2701_C01_032E Estimate!!Total!!Civilian noninstitutionalized population!!NATIVITY AND U.S. CITIZENSHIP STATUS!!Foreign born
    S2701_C01_035E Estimate!!Total!!Civilian noninstitutionalized population!!DISABILITY STATUS!!With a disability
    S2701_C05_001E Estimate!!Percent Uninsured!!Civilian noninstitutionalized population
    S2701_C05_002E Estimate!!Percent Uninsured!!Civilian noninstitutionalized population!!AGE!!Under 6 years
    S2701_C05_011E Estimate!!Percent Uninsured!!Civilian noninstitutionalized population!!AGE!!Under 19 years
  • There's also the Base Table: B23027, which gives you work vs. did not work (no breakdown of unemployed & looking vs. not in labor force though). It does gives you full-time vs. part-time!

  • I usually use B23001: SEX BY AGE BY EMPLOYMENT STATUS FOR THE POPULATION 16 YEARS AND OVER There is an age category that begins at age 55.  You have to add up across age categories above 55.   Also check the Census website on employment variables.  There are statistics from the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics).  I believe that there is a white paper comparing the ACS methodology to the BLS methodology.  There is a tread from a couple of months ago that discusses this topic. The employment rate is  employed/(employed + unemployed looking for work)   Denominator "in labor force"

    Dave

Reply
  • I usually use B23001: SEX BY AGE BY EMPLOYMENT STATUS FOR THE POPULATION 16 YEARS AND OVER There is an age category that begins at age 55.  You have to add up across age categories above 55.   Also check the Census website on employment variables.  There are statistics from the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics).  I believe that there is a white paper comparing the ACS methodology to the BLS methodology.  There is a tread from a couple of months ago that discusses this topic. The employment rate is  employed/(employed + unemployed looking for work)   Denominator "in labor force"

    Dave

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