[Excerpt] The longest postwar expansion in the Nation’s history ended when the economy entered a recession in March 2001. Subsequently, the labor force participation rate—the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population in the labor force—fell, with declines occurring among youths aged 16 to 24 and workers in the 25 to 54 years age group. These declines are in contrast to the labor market downturn of the early 1990s, during which the dropoff in labor force participation was much smaller.