Unemployment(失业)rose from 7.5&in June, 1996to 7.8% in July, 1996, the highest rate since January of that year , the Labor Department reported. The main reason was a large increase -----nearly 700, 000 in the labor force , with a record 61.9% of the population over sixteen years of age working or actively looking for work.

That growth was caused mainly by an increase in the number of women in the labor force , an increase partly because of a continuation of long ----term and economic trends(经济趋势)and partly a reflection of pressure on families to increase their incomes.

It can be inferred that the labor force described in the passage is made up of __________.