New Record: More Than 93 Million Americans Not in Labor Force

The portion of the population outside of that force has been steadily increasing since then: by the end of George W. Bush's presidency the number surpassed the 80 million mark, and during Barack Obama's second term, in July 2013, it was already over 90 million.

The July BLS report revealed that out of the nation's civilian noninstitutional population of  250,876,000 — that is, everyone 16 and older who is not in the military or an institution — only 157,106,000 participated in the labor force.

The last time labor participation reached that low was 38 years ago, in October 1977.

According to the new report, 215,000 jobs were added last month, in line with economists' predictions, but the nation's civilian unemployment rate remained where it was, at 5.3 percent.

And relatively no change was seen among various demographic groups: adult men (4.8 percent), adult women (4.9 percent), whites (4.6 percent), blacks (9.1 percent), Asians (4.0 percent), and Hispanics (6.8 percent).

More than 6 million people were estimated to be involuntarily part-time employees over the course of recent months, meaning their hours had been cut back or that they were unable to find a full-time job.

Nearly 27 percent of the unemployed population — 2,180,000 in July; not a big change from 2,121,000 in June — has been out of the labor force for 27 weeks or more.

The Congressional Budget Office's forecast is not consoling either, as it expects the number of working Americans to increase more slowly in future decades. Among the main reasons for this: retiring baby-boomers exiting the labor force, declining birth rates and a levelling-off of women in the workforce.