A chart released by the Senate Budget Committee found that nearly one in four of the 124.5 million Americans in prime working years between ages 25-54 are not working. The chart was created by the staff of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) based on data from the nonpartisan Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Sessions office explains:
There are 124.5 million Americans in their prime working years (ages 25–54). Nearly one-quarter of this group — 28.9 million people, or 23.2 percent of the total — is not currently employed. They either became so discouraged that they left the labor force entirely, or they are in the labor force but unemployed. This group of non-employed individuals is more than 3.5 million larger than before the recession began in 2007. [Weekly Standard]
Meanwhile, workers ages 18 to 29 are hit even harder by unemployment than older generations, with an unemployment rate more than twice the national average.
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