The FRED Team has been reporting on a lot of dire economic data lately. Today, May the 4th, offers the chance for some light(saber)ness—using a multilayered Star Wars pun to salute our armed forces.
The FRED Blog has shown the labor force participation rates of men and women worldwide—in the U.S. and across the OECD. Today, we look at the labor force participation rate of men and women veterans of the U.S. armed forces.
The men’s rate is the solid orange line, the women’s rate is the solid magenta line, and the average across both genders is the dashed red line. As with the labor force participation rate of the overall civilian population, the rates in this graph are decreasing.
Notice how different the labor force participation rates of veteran men and women are, particularly relative to the average across genders. This is because the proportion of veteran men to veteran women is very high. This is called the composition effect. These past blog posts have additional examples of the composition effect on labor markets and on housing prices.
And yes: May the fourth be with you!
How this graph was created: Search for “Labor Force Participation Rate – Women, Total Veterans, 18 Years and Over.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, use the “Add Line” feature to search for and select the “Labor Force Participation Rate – Total Veterans, 18 Years and Over.” Do the same to add the series “Labor Force Participation Rate – Men, Total Veterans, 18 Years and Over.” From the “Format” tab, select line colors and styles to taste.
Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.
