Why Americans Have Stopped Looking for Jobs
The U.S. job market is still adding positions, but fewer Americans are actively trying to get one. The clearest sign is in the Labor Department’s latest count of people outside the labor force who still say they want a job.
Millions are no longer actively searching
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on July 5, 2025, that 7.2 million Americans were not in the labor force but said they wanted a job. That figure is separate from the official unemployment count because these workers had not looked for work in the previous 4 weeks, according to the monthly jobs report.
Within that group, 1.8 million people were classified as marginally attached to the labor force in June 2025. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said those workers wanted and were available for a job and had looked for work sometime in the prior 12 months. Because they were not actively searching during the most recent 4 weeks, they were not counted as unemployed.
The same report showed 637,000 discouraged workers in June 2025. The government defines discouraged workers as people who stopped looking because they believed no jobs were available for them, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What the slowdown looks like around the country
This is a national shift, but it has local effects in every state because labor force participation shapes hiring, wages, and how many workers employers can draw from. In June 2025, the labor force participation rate was 62.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said, unchanged from the prior month.
What is confirmed nationally is that job seekers are taking longer to find work than they did during the hottest stretch of the post-pandemic hiring boom. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 6.5 million unemployed people in June 2025, and the number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more rose to 1.6 million.
What is not yet clear from the federal report is which cities or counties account for the biggest share of people stepping back from job searches. The monthly national release does not provide a full local breakdown of discouraged workers or all 7.2 million people who say they want a job.
Why workers are stepping back
Several forces are feeding the pullback. Federal data for June 2025 showed little change in labor force participation, while long-term unemployment increased, a sign that some job hunters may be struggling to reconnect with employers even as payrolls continue to grow.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also tracks people working part time for economic reasons, and that number was 4.5 million in June 2025. That matters because reduced hours, weak schedules, or part-time roles can make the market feel unstable even for people who are technically employed.
For residents, the practical takeaway is that the headline unemployment rate does not capture everyone who wants work. The June 2025 federal report shows millions remain on the sidelines, and the next monthly employment release will indicate whether more Americans return to the search or continue to sit out.
