What Is The Unemployment Rate In America

Unemployment By Country 2021

The unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed workers in the total labor force. The unemployment rate includes workers who currently do not work, although they can do so. For 2021, the global unemployment rate is estimated to be between 6.3-6.5%, depending upon the source.

The unemployment rate is a lagging indicator, meaning it responds to changing economic conditions rather than influencing or predicting them. When the economy grows at a healthy rate, the job market is plentiful and the unemployment rate drops. When the economy is experiencing a recession or other turbulence, the job market tends to retract and the unemployment rate rises in response.

Many Workers Remained Sidelined With Job Losses Concentrated In Low

The unemployment rate jumped in April 2020 to a level not seen since the 1930s and still stood at 4.8 percent in September 2021, compared with 3.5 percent in February 2020. The official unemployment rate, however, understates current job losses.

While the economy has added jobs in recent months, there were still 5.0 million fewer jobs in September 2021 than in February 2020. The majority of jobs lost in the crisis have been in industries that pay low average wages, with the lowest-paying industries accounting for 30 percent of all jobs but 56 percent of the jobs lost from February 2020 to September 2021, according to the latest month of Labor Department employment data. Jobs were down nearly twice as much in low-paying industries as in medium-wage industries and more than six times as much as in high-wage industries during this period.

Black and Latino workers have experienced a far slower jobs recovery than white workers reflecting historical patterns rooted in structural racism. Some 7.9 percent of Black workers and 6.3 percent of Latino workers were unemployed in September, compared to 4.2 percent of white workers. Workers who were born outside the United States have experienced larger job losses than U.S.-born workers.

When family members are considered, some 24.1 million people in September, including 6.3 million children, lived in a family where at least one adult did not have paid work in the last week because of unemployment or the pandemic, we estimate.

Understanding The Unemployment Rate

The U.S. unemployment rate is released on the first Friday of every month and reports on the preceding month’s unemployment figures. The current and past editions of the report are available on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. Users can generate and download tables showing any of the labor market measures named above for a specified date range.

In the U.S., the official and the most commonly cited national unemployment rate is the U-3, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases as part of its monthly employment situation report. It defines unemployed people as those who are willing and available to work, and who have actively sought work within the past four weeks.

According to the BLS, those with temporary, part-time, or full-time jobs are considered employed, as are those who perform at least 15 hours of unpaid family work. The unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted to account for predictable variations, such as extra hiring during the holidays. The BLS also provides the unadjusted rate.

Recommended Reading: Filing Unemployment In Tn

How Is The Us Unemployment Rate Calculated

verifiedBrian Duignan

In general, the unemployment rate in the United States is obtained by dividing the number of unemployed persons by the number of persons in the labor force and multiplying that figure by 100. There are, however, various ways of defining unemployed, each yielding a distinct unemployment rate. The standard unemployment rate, referred to as U-3, is the one most often cited. By that measure, a person is counted as unemployed if he or she does not have a full-time, part-time, or temporary job, is actively looking for a job, and is currently available to be hired. The category of unemployed persons also includes those who have been temporarily laid off. A person is understood to be actively looking for a job if he or she has tried to obtain one within the preceding four weeks. Persons who are only marginally attached to the labor marketthose who want and are available for a job and have actively looked for a job within the preceding 12 months but not within the preceding four weeksare considered neither employed nor unemployed and thus not part of the labor force. Also excluded are discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who are not looking for a job specifically because they believe there are none for which they are qualified or because they have been victims of employment discrimination.

Find out more about the U.S. unemployment rate at:

Difficulty Covering Household Expenses

Since late August 2020, the Household Pulse Survey has provided data on the number of adults struggling to cover usual household expenses such as food, rent or mortgage, car payments, medical expenses, or student loans. Some 63 million adults 29 percent of all adults in the country reported it was somewhat or very difficult for their household to cover usual expenses in the past seven days, according to data collected September 29October 11.

The share of adults reporting difficulty covering usual expenses rose through the fall of 2020, reaching a peak of 38 percent in mid-December. This likely reflected, in part, weaknesses of the relief packages enacted in the spring of 2020, including increased jobless benefits that expired over the summer, stimulus payments whose impact faded later in the year, and inadequate nutrition and housing assistance.

In early 2021, the share of adults with trouble covering expenses stabilized as aid from the end-of-year relief package including renewed jobless benefits and another round of stimulus payments reached households.

Following the enactment of the American Rescue Plan on March 11, and as the economy added jobs, the share of adults who had trouble covering usual expenses fell dramatically. The share ticked upward in May, likely due to the fading impact of the third round of stimulus payments, but it has remained statistically unchanged in recent months.

Recommended Reading: Can You File Bankruptcy On Unemployment Overpayment

Us Job Growth Picks Up In October Unemployment Rate Falls To 46%

A Brandon Motor Lodge displays a “Help Wanted” sign in Brandon, Florida, U.S., June 1, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

• Nonfarm payrolls forecast increasing 450,000 in October
• Unemployment rate seen falling to 4.7% from 4.8%
• Average hourly earnings forecast rising 0.4%

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 – U.S. employment increased more than expected in October as the headwind from the surge in COVID-19 infections over the summer subsided, offering more evidence that economic activity was regaining momentum early in the fourth quarter.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 531,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said in its closely watched employment report on Friday. Data for September was revised higher to show 312,000 created instead of the previously reported 194,000.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising by 450,000 jobs. Estimates ranged from as low as 125,000 jobs to as high as 755,000. Worker shortages persisted, even as federal government-funded unemployment benefits wound down in early September and schools reopened for in-person learning.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Still, the report joined rising consumer confidence and services sector activity in painting a more favorable picture of the economy, after the Delta variant of the coronavirus and economy-wide shortages of goods restrained growth in the third quarter to its slowest pace in more than a year.

How Do I Apply

To receive unemployment insurance benefits, you need to file a claim with the unemployment insurance program in the state where you worked. Depending on the state, claims may be filed in person, by telephone, or online.

• You should contact your state’s unemployment insurance program as soon as possible after becoming unemployed.
• Generally, you should file your claim with the state where you worked. If you worked in a state other than the one where you now live or if you worked in multiple states, the state unemployment insurance agency where you now live can provide information about how to file your claim with other states.
• When you file a claim, you will be asked for certain information, such as addresses and dates of your former employment. To make sure your claim is not delayed, be sure to give complete and correct information.
• It generally takes two to three weeks after you file your claim to receive your first benefit check.

Read Also: Unemployment Tennessee Application

Us Unemployment Rate Falls In December But Rises For Black Women

• The unemployment rate fell in December for all U.S. workers except Black women.
• The overall unemployment rate dipped to 3.9% last month from 4.2% in November, the Labor Department reported
• But the Black women jobless number jumped to 6.2% from 4.9% and followed a roughly 2 percentage-point drop in November.

The unemployment rate fell in December for all U.S. workers except Black women.

While the headline hiring number came in much lower than expected in December, the overall unemployment rate dipped to 3.9% from 4.2% in November, the Labor Department reported.

However, the unemployment rate for Black women jumped to 6.2% last month from 4.9% the only race and gender group whose unemployment rate worsened in December.

That increase followed a roughly 2 percentage-point drop in November. At the time, some economists saw that decrease as a cautious sign of improvement for Black women seeking jobs.

“The data for smaller demographic groups tend to be pretty volatile,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “We need to look at longer-term trends to see what is happening.”

But the December rate for Black women does represent an improvement since the start of last year when it stood 8.5%.

“We’re definitely seeing improvement in the Black unemployment rate over a longer period of time … but it’s still quite elevated,” Gould said.

The unemployment rate for women overall was 3.6% in December, 2.6 percentage points lower than that of Black women.

Current Unemployment Rates For States And Historical Highs/lows

State

Preliminary

Note: Rates shown are a percentage of the labor force. Data refer to place of residence. Seriesbegin in January 1976. Historical highs and lows show the most recent month that a rate wasrecorded in the event of multiple occurrences. Estimates for at least the latest five years aresubject to revision early in the following calendar year. Estimates for the current month aresubject to revision the following month.

December 17, 2021

You May Like: Unemployment Requirements Tn

Demographics And Employment Trends

Employment trends can be analyzed by any number of demographic factors individually or in combination, such as age, gender, educational attainment, and race. A major trend underlying the analysis of employment numbers is the aging of the white workforce, which is roughly 70% of the employment total by race as of November 2016. For example, the prime working age white population declined by 4.8 million between December 2007 and November 2016, roughly 5%, while non-white populations are increasing. This is a major reason why non-white and foreign-born workers are increasing their share of the employed. However, white prime-age workers have also had larger declines in labor force participation than some non-white groups, for reasons not entirely clear. Such changes may have important political implications.

Persons With Multiple Jobs

The BLS reported that in 2017, there were approximately 7.5 million persons age 16 and over working multiple jobs, about 4.9% of the population. This was relatively unchanged from 2016. About 4 million worked a full-time primary job and part-time secondary job. A 2020 study based on a Census Bureau survey estimated a higher share of multiple jobholders, with 7.8% of persons in the U.S. working multiple jobs as of 2018 the study found that this percentage has been trending upward during the past twenty years and that earnings from second jobs are, on average, 27.8% of a multiple jobholder’s earnings.

Also Check: Applying For Unemployment In Pennsylvania

What Is Unemployment Unemployment Rate At 94% In January

What is unemployment , Unemployment rate at 9.4% in January-March 2021 : What is unemployment, what are the main causes of unemployment, today we are going to provide you complete information about it in our article. Therefore you are requested to read our article completely. So that you will be able to get complete information about unemployment in India.After the privatization of government companies in India, the unemployment rate has been seen increasing due to the decrease in government jobs. So today we are going to provide you complete information about the problem of unemployment. Under which we are going to tell you in our article the reasons for unemployment and also the ways to solve its problem.

Difficulty Getting Enough Food

Nearly 20 million adults 9 percent of all adults in the country reported that their household sometimes or often didnt have enough to eat in the last seven days, according to Household Pulse Survey data collected September 29October 11. When asked why, 82 percent said they couldnt afford to buy more food, rather than non-financial factors such as lack of transportation or safety concerns due to the pandemic.

Adults in households with children were likelier to report that the household didnt get enough to eat: 12 percent, compared to 8 percent for households without children. And 7 to 13 percent of adults with children reported that their children sometimes or often didnt eat enough in the last seven days because they couldnt afford it. Households typically first scale back on food for adults before cutting back on what children have to eat.

Also, analysis of more detailed data from the Pulse Survey shows that between 5 and 9 million children live in a household where children didnt eat enough because the household couldnt afford it. These figures are approximations the Pulse Survey was designed to provide data on adult well-being, not precise counts of children.

Don’t Miss: Www Njuifile Net 1099 Form

How Unemployment Tracks Recessions

Unemployment tracks the business cycle. Recessions are part of that cycle and can cause high unemployment. Businesses often lay off workers and, without an income, those jobless workers have less money to spend. Lower consumer spending reduces business revenue, which forces companies to cut more payroll. This downward cycle can be devastating to individuals and the economy.

The highest rate of U.S. unemployment was 24.9% in 1933, during the Great Depression. Unemployment remained above 14% from 1931 to 1940. It remained in the single digits until September 1982 when it reached 10.1%. During the Great Recession, unemployment reached 10% in October 2009. In 2020, it reached double digits again at 14.8% in April when the U.S. was dealing with a pandemic and recession.

The U.S. government will step in when unemployment exceeds 6%. The Federal Reserve uses expansionary monetary policy to lower interest rates. Congress uses fiscal policy to create jobs and provide extended unemployment benefits.

The unemployment rate typically falls during the expansion phase of the business cycle. The lowest unemployment rate in modern history was 1.2% in 1944.

It may seem counterintuitive to think unemployment can get too low, but it can.

If youre looking for work after a recession, youll likely find the going is still tough. It might take several months before the unemployment rate falls.

Comparison Of Employment Recovery Across Recessions And Financial Crises

One method of analyzing the impact of recessions on employment is to measure the period of time it takes to return to the pre-recession employment peak. By this measure, the 20082009 recession was considerably worse than the five other U.S. recessions from 1970 to present. By May 2013, U.S. employment had reached 98% of its pre-recession peak after approximately 60 months. Employment recovery following a combined recession and financial crisis tends to be much longer than a typical recession. For example, it took Norway 8.5 years to return to its pre-recession peak employment after its 1987 financial crisis and it took Sweden 17.8 years after its 1991 financial crisis. The U.S. is recovering considerably faster than either of these countries.

Don’t Miss: Uc Ticket Number

How The Government Tries To Lower Unemployment

Whenever unemployment gets too high usually above 6 percent the federal government often tries to step in and create jobs. This is especially important if a high rate of unemployment is cyclical, exists across a broad range of industries and segments of the economy and is stubbornly long term .

The two major tactics the government can employ in its job-creating strategy are changes to its monetary policy and/or changes to its fiscal policies. Different remedies have been applied at different times in our history with different results and politics always plays a role in whether or when a particular tactic is going to be introduced.

North America Unemployment Rate 1991

• North America unemployment rate for 2020 was 8.44%, a 4.55% increase from 2019.
• North America unemployment rate for 2019 was 3.89%, a 0.22% decline from 2018.
• North America unemployment rate for 2018 was 4.11%, a 0.47% decline from 2017.
• North America unemployment rate for 2017 was 4.58%, a 0.53% decline from 2016.

Don’t Miss: How Do You Qualify For Unemployment In Tennessee

How To Use The Unemployment Rate

Keep in mind that the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator. It tells you what has already happened, since employers only lay off workers after business slows down.

The unemployment rate isn’t lagging as much as usual because the pandemic is still creating sudden changes.

Companies resist hiring new workers when a recession is over until they can be sure that the economy will stay strong. The economy could improve for months, and the recession could be over before the unemployment rate drops. It’s not suitable for predicting trends, but it’s useful for confirming them.