A smaller proportion of the working-age population is employed or looking for work. This decline in the participation rate has been larger than the average experience during earlier episodes of rising unemployment (Graph 6). So even though the population has continued to grow at a strong rate, the growth in the labour force has been a little slower than previous experience might have suggested.
Graph 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  It is not unusual for the participation rate to fall during periods of weak demand. As jobs become more difficult to find (at the prevailing wage), some individuals become discouraged from searching.