United States
US desk: United States first; United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, euro-area members, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand alongside.
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As of 2025 | % of population ages 15+
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 59.11% |
| 2024 | 59.47% |
| 2023 | 59.82% |
| 2022 | 59.54% |
| 2021 | 58.21% |
| 2020 | 56.60% |
| 2019 | 60.54% |
| 2018 | 60.15% |
| 2017 | 59.82% |
| 2016 | 59.39% |
| 2015 | 58.98% |
| 2014 | 58.59% |
| 2013 | 58.11% |
| 2012 | 58.02% |
| 2011 | 57.57% |
| 2010 | 57.59% |
| 2009 | 58.41% |
| 2008 | 61.23% |
| 2007 | 61.99% |
| 2006 | 62.16% |
| 2005 | 61.74% |
| 2004 | 61.41% |
| 2003 | 61.31% |
| 2002 | 61.79% |
The employment-to-population ratio is employed people as a percent of the population ages 15+ (SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.ZS). It does not condition on being in the labour force. Latest: 59.11% in 2025.
It moves with both jobs and demography. From 1991 to 2025 (35 years): mean 60.40%, median 60.54%; low 56.60% (2020), high 63.51% (2000).
Source: World Bank Open Data. Licence: CC BY 4.0 (terms).
This series is the employment-to-population ratio for people aged 15 and over: the share of that population who are employed. The source is World Bank Open Data indicator SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.ZS, an ILO modelled estimate. It is not the unemployment rate. Students, retirees, people looking after a household and others outside the labour force are all in the denominator, so the ratio can fall even when unemployment is unchanged. The ratio also treats each employed person alike, whether they work an hour a week or a full year.
The indicator is modelled from national labour-force surveys and censuses and is revised when those inputs change. Population age structure and retirement ages differ between economies, so levels are not directly equivalent. The chart shows selected economies over the years you choose, and the ranked ledger shows each economy’s latest published year. Read the direction of travel and the broad level; small differences between neighbouring economies sit within the uncertainty of the estimates. Read it with the participation rate for context.
The US desk places the United States first and shows a related set alongside it: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the euro area, Germany, Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand, as far as each series covers them. The figures are the same World Bank ILO modelled estimates used on the all-countries pages, filtered to this set; the build does not recompute anything for the desk. Taiwan appears only on the headline unemployment page, where the rate is filled from the IMF World Economic Outlook because the World Bank does not publish it.
Use the Country selector to move between desks, the Chart and Table tabs for the same values in two forms, and the range buttons to change the period. Every page names its indicator code, source and licence. A blank or absent economy means the source does not publish that series, not that the rate is zero.