Workforce participation has fallen across the board in Pennsylvania since the onset of the pandemic, but a new analysis shows the decline has been greatest among workers under age 35.
The state’s Independent Fiscal Office reported Thursday that 52% of Pennsylvanians between the ages of 19 and 24 held payroll jobs early this year. At the beginning of 2020, that figure had approached 55%. Among Pennsylvania workers between ages 25 and 34, about 65% had payroll jobs in the first quarter of this year. Roughly 67% filled those positions two years earlier.
“The data show significant reductions in workforce participation rates for workers under age 35,” the Independent Fiscal Office said in an email Thursday. “Workforce participation rates declined for older workers too, but contractions were notably more moderate.”
If labor force participation hadn’t changed between 2020 and 2022, Pennsylvanians under 35 would fill 62,000 more jobs than they do today, according to researchers. They said these younger workers account for more than half of the state’s workforce decline.
The findings are consistent with national trends believed to reflect a rise in burnout, childcare needs, and self-employment.
In its two-page research brief, the Independent Fiscal Office noted that the number of self-employed workers nationally has climbed by roughly 5% since before the pandemic. The agency’s analysis does not account for that change because it draws on U.S. Census Bureau data that excludes people who are solely self-employed. But the researchers said the data remains one of the best sources of information for measuring workforce participation by age group at the state level.
