The US laborforce, which usually expands by about 1 % per year, has been expanding about twice as fast due to international migration, welfare recipients moving off the rolls, more older men working, and an increase in the percentage of working-age women seeking jobs. In January 1997, a record 67.2 % of the population 16 and older was in the labor force, employed, or looking for work, for a total of 136 million persons.