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Wages continue to be flat, and jobs are only growing slowly, but the number of working-age Americans who are not working continues to rise. The share of adult Americans who were participating in the labor force--either working or looking for work--last month fell to 63.7 percent, according to figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was down from 63.9 percent in September. It is the lowest share since September 1993. The percentage of adults in the labor force--defined as either those who worked or were actively looking for work during the week--was 62.5 percent in September, matching the low set last April and June. The unemployment rate edged up from 6.0 percent in September to 6.1 percent last month. The rate of workers who were employed part time for economic reasons edged up to 3.4 percent from 3.3 percent the month before. At the same time, the number of people who want a full-time job but can't find one edged up to 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent. The total share of working-age Americans who either worked part time or who were unemployed and looking for a full-time job was 14.5 percent, slightly below the percentage in September 2013. Meanwhile, the number of full-time workers per 100 working-age adults rose from 47.6 in September to 48.4. At the same time, the number of part-time workers per 100 workers declined from 13.3 to 12.8. This month's release of data marked the first time the labor force participation rate fell below 63 percent since it hit a post-World War II low of 62.9 percent in May 1981. It was lower than that in June, August, and April, which was 61.9 percent. The labor participation rate hit a record peak of 67.3 percent in late 1984. It has been inching down since then. The labor participation rate fell across most demographic groups last month, including men and women. As a result, women are now outnumbered by men in the labor force, 44.6 million to 45.2 million. Young people continue to be a major force behind the overall drop in labor participation. The Labor Department's data show the rate among people between the ages of 16 and 24 fell to 54.4 percent from 55.7 percent in September. That is a decline of 4.4 percentage points. The rate of people 25 to 54, meanwhile, was 67.1 percent, which was down 1.1 percentage points from a year ago. In addition to the overall decline in labor force participation, there has been a drop in labor force participation for specific age groups, said Jim Diffley, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight. "I think the key take-away is that the labor force participation rate continues to fall across most demographic groups," he said. "Part of this is that the overall rate has been going down because of a lack of job opportunities for college graduates." The latest data showed the number of 16- to 19-year-olds not in school, high school students, or college freshmen hit the lowest levels since 1983. There are now 6.5 million fewer students in school and 6.4 million fewer high schoolers than in September 2008. Of those out of school, 2.3 million are in college and nearly 2 million are high school students, about the same as last year. Diffley said he thought there was some hope for a rise in the labor participation rate in the near future because of lower gasoline prices. However, he said it is hard to predict at this point how much of a bump the cheaper gas prices will give to the overall economy. "On the one hand, you could look at this and say this is great. This would indicate that things are improving," Diffley said. "However, it will be up to employers to come and get these people." Another possible factor affecting the labor market would be if Congress comes up with a solution to unemployment benefits. While the federal government extended the extension of jobless benefits in late 2013 for three months, the program expired in late September and the extension ended this month. Meanwhile, Friday's release showed that wage growth continues to lag. The average hourly wage of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was $22.80 in September. That was up from $22.77 the month before, and from $21.37 in September 2013. The average hourly wage of all employees in the private sector is now up by just 0.4 percent over the past year, and it has grown 2.2 percent over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, average hourly earnings for production and non-supervisory employees increased 0.3 percent in September. Those workers' average hourly wage has grown by 1.8 percent since September 2013. The figures released Friday also showed that the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was 34.5 hours last month. Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com and Susan Carey at susan.carey@wsj.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires October 03, 2014 17:04 ET (11:04 GMT)