This is cute, but not data. When you look at actual data, it shows that it actually has changed over time. There is a gradual rise in the labor force participation rate as more women enter the workforce, up until a peak in ~2001. It's been dropping ever since.
Excluding people 16-24 would definitely remove the vast majority of the population addressed above.
The largest drop appears to be the in 16 to 19 age group -- hardly the group trying to be independent. Outside of that group it again doesn't seem very different.