Hispanic men have maintained the highest labor force participation rate even as labor force participation of all men has declined since the 1970s: Men’s labor force participation rate by race and ethnicity, 1973–2024

Year White Black Hispanic AIAN  Asian
1973 79.4% 73.4% 81.5%  
1974 79.4% 72.9% 81.7%  
1975 78.7% 70.9% 80.7%  
1976 78.4% 70.0% 79.6%  
1977 78.5% 70.6% 80.9%  
1978 78.6% 71.5% 81.1%  
1979 78.6% 71.3% 81.3%  
1980 78.2% 70.3% 81.4%  
1981 77.9% 70.0% 80.6%  
1982 77.4% 70.1% 79.7%  
1983 77.1% 70.6% 80.3%  
1984 77.1% 70.8% 80.6%  
1985 77.0% 70.8% 80.3%  
1986 76.9% 71.2% 81.0%  
1987 76.8% 71.1% 81.0%  
1988 76.9% 71.0% 81.9%  
1989 77.1% 71.0% 82.0%  
1990 77.1% 71.0% 81.4%  
1991 76.5% 70.4% 80.3%  
1992 76.5% 70.7% 80.7%  
1993 76.2% 69.6% 80.2%  
1994 75.9% 69.1% 79.2%  
1995 75.7% 69.0% 79.1%  
1996 75.8% 68.7% 79.6%  
1997 75.9% 68.3% 80.1%  
1998 75.6% 69.0% 79.8%  
1999 75.6% 68.7% 79.8%  
2000 75.5% 69.2% 81.5%   76.1%
2001 75.1% 68.4% 81.0%   76.2%
2002 74.8% 68.4% 80.2% 72.5% 75.9%
2003 74.2% 67.3% 80.1% 72.2% 75.6%
2004 74.1% 66.7% 80.4% 71.7% 75.0%
2005 74.1% 67.3% 80.1% 70.6% 74.8%
2006 74.3% 67.0% 80.7% 69.8% 75.0%
2007 74.0% 66.8% 80.5% 69.5% 75.1%
2008 73.7% 66.7% 80.2% 69.6% 75.3%
2009 72.8% 65.0% 78.8% 68.1% 74.6%
2010 72.0% 65.0% 77.8% 66.1% 73.2%
2011 71.3% 64.2% 76.5% 64.4% 73.2%
2012 71.0% 63.6% 76.1% 65.2% 72.2%
2013 70.5% 63.5% 76.3% 65.6% 73.0%
2014 69.8% 63.6% 76.1% 66.3% 72.4%
2015 69.7% 63.8% 76.2% 66.1% 71.4%
2016 69.8% 64.1% 76.0% 66.8% 72.1%
2017 69.5% 64.6% 75.8% 66.3% 71.9%
2018 69.5% 64.8% 75.7% 65.6% 71.6%
2019 69.6% 64.8% 75.9% 64.9% 71.8%
2020 68.2% 62.6% 74.9% 64.7% 70.9%
2021 67.9% 63.5% 75.4% 65.5% 71.8%
2022 68.1% 65.2% 75.2% 65.7% 72.1%
2023 68.2% 65.6% 75.1% 64.9% 72.8%
2024 67.9% 65.9% 75.5% 65.1% 72.0%
Economic Policy Institute

Notes: AIAN refers to American Indian and Alaska Native. Race/ethnicity categories are not mutually exclusive; white, Black, and Asian data do not exclude Hispanic workers of each race. Shaded areas denote recessions. AIAN data are 3-year pooled averages to account for sample size restrictions. Please see Appendix Table 1 for 1-year estimates.

Notes: AIAN refers to American Indian and Alaska Native. Race/ethnicity categories are not mutually exclusive; white, Black, and Asian data do not exclude Hispanic workers of each race. Shaded areas denote recessions. AIAN data are 3-year pooled averages to account for sample size restrictions. Please see Appendix Table 1 for 1-year estimates. The labor force participation rate shows the number of people in the labor force—people who are employed or unemployed but looking for work—as a share of the number of civilian, noninstitutionalized people ages 16 and older.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey, Labor Force Participation Rate for Men by Race and Ethnicity data series LNU01300004, LNU01300007, LNU01300010, LNU01335294, and LNU01332301.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey (Household Survey), Labor Force Participation for Men by Race and Ethnicity data series LNU01300004, LNU01300007, LNU01300010, LNU01332301, and LNU01335294. Accessible via Series Report Data Retrieval Tool and https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/ln/. Accessed August 2025.

View the underlying data on epi.org.