ABSTRACT
Many older workers now withdraw from the labor force before they die. Fifty years ago death and disability accounted for practically all labor force separations. The majority of women also participate in paid employment but, if they are married, generally on an intermittent basis as contrasted with men. The tremendous increase in the employment of women, especially middle-aged women, that has offset the removal of children from the labor force so that approximately the same percentage of the population was employed in 1960 as in 1900; the proportion of all persons fourteen years of age or over in the labor force was 53.7 per cent in 1900 and 55.5 per cent in 1970. The teen-age girl has a relatively low (and declining) worker rate since more girls remain in school, coming into the labor force in significant proportions in the early 20's.
