Between February 2020 and April 2020, the labor force participation rate for people ages 20 to 24 declined by 8.7 percentage points. The labor force participation rate for people ages 25 to 54 declined by only 3.1 percentage points.

a. What is the labor force participation rate? Why do economists and policymakers care about the labor force participation rate?

b. During this period of 2020, why was the decline in the labor force participation rate for workers in their early 20s so much larger than for workers in the older age group?