The future of the US economy in one chart

Millennials are storming back into the work force.

Last Friday, the monthly jobs report showed that in January, nonfarm payrolls grew by 257,000 in the US.

And with revisions to recent reports, the last three months were the strongest for job creation in the US in 17 years.

And the main driving force behind this trend: millennials.

Workers between the ages of 25 and 34 have been storming back into the workforce over the last several years, with this trend really taking off in 2014.

Bill McBride over at Calculated Risk also wrote about this phenomenon on Monday, highlighting the coming rise of the prime-age working population - or those between the ages of 25-54. In economics speak, this would be considered a "demographic tailwind."

Young workers today are the middle-aged, household-forming, tax-paying, consuming family heads of tomorrow.

This is the most important trend in the labor market right now. This is America's economic future.

FRED