For purposes of comparison, however, some adjustments can be made to CPS employment estimates to make them more similar in definitional scope to CES employment figures. The Labor Department figures showed that the rate fell to 3.5% in September from 3.7%, with the economy adding 136,000 jobs last month. US Unemployment Rate is at 6.70%, compared to 6.70% last month and 3.60% last year. Most of the improvement in the unemployment measures occurred in the fourth quarter of 2016. (See table 1.). 5 The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is the official arbiter of the beginning and ending dates of recessions in the United States. Employment in service occupations increased by 963,000, to 26.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, after seeing little change in the prior year. The number of unemployed job leavers (people who voluntarily left their jobs) rose by 133,000, reaching 928,000 in the fourth quarter of 2016. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Turning points are quarterly—fourth quarter 2007 and second quarter 2009—for this article. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and older, by age and selected characteristics, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 2015–16 (levels in thousands), Table 2. The site is secure. While the increases in earnings for all these groups outpaced inflation, Blacks saw the largest over-the-year increase in percentage terms—5.8 percent—after essentially no earnings growth in 2015. For additional information on the population adjustments and their effect on national labor force estimates, see “Adjustments to household survey population estimates in January 2016” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, February 2016), https://www.bls.gov/cps/population-control-adjustments-2016.pdf. The remaining 1.3 million people marginally attached to the labor force in the fourth quarter of 2016 had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey because of school attendance, family responsibilities, health-related issues, transportation problems, and other reasons not identified separately in the CPS. The proportion of people unemployed for long periods of time continued to decline but remained high by historical standards. The long-term trends in the two surveys’ employment measures are quite similar. Unemployment rates, by occupation group, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, 2015–16 (in percent), Table 4. BLS routinely carries out these adjustments to evaluate how the two employment series are tracking. In contrast to 2015, when employment growth was more concentrated among adult women, 2016 saw larger employment employment gains for adult men. This report includes a summary of possible causes of differences in the surveys’ employment trends as well as links to additional research on the topic. (See table 7 and figure 10.). When an economy begins to improve after a recession, for example, the unemployment rate may continue to worsen for some time. Women’s earnings as a proportion of men’s earnings increased by 0.8 percentage point, to 81.9 percent in 2016, partially offsetting a 1.4-percentage-point decline in 2015. An analysis of long-term unemployment, Monthly Labor Review, July 2016. The jobless rate was little changed over the year for natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations (6.3 percent) and for production, transportation, and material moving occupations (5.6 percent). The subset of the marginally attached who are not looking for work because of any of these five job-market reasons is defined as “discouraged workers.” In 2016, the number of discouraged workers declined by 139,000 and totaled 502,000 in the fourth quarter. Effective with the release of data for January 2016, updated population estimates were used in the household survey. Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate) from The World Bank: Data Learn how the World Bank Group is helping countries with COVID-19 (coronavirus). Among people 25 years and older, the jobless rate for those with less than a high school diploma was over 3 times higher than the rate for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Employment expansion continues at a slower pace, Monthly Labor Review, coming April 2017. Evan Cunningham CPS data indicate continued improvement in the U.S. labor market in 2016. Here is how you know. The number of employed people grew by 2.5 million in 2016, reaching 152 million in the fourth quarter. Unemployment has been declining since the first quarter of 2010, although the rate of decline in these measures has tapered off in recent years. Known as U–1, U–2, and U–4 through U–6 (U–3 is the official unemployment rate), these alternative measures of labor underutilization provide insight into a broad range of problems encountered by workers in today’s labor market.12 Similar to the official unemployment rate, the alternative measures are presented as a percentage of the labor force (adjusted as necessary). The number of new entrants to the labor force (job seekers who have never worked before), at 767,000 in the fourth quarter, showed little movement over the year. The U.S. unemployment rate just fell below 5% for the first time since 2008. by Patrick Gillespie @CNNMoney February 5, 2016: 1:02 PM ET Unemployment drops to 4.9%, lowest in 8 years U.S. unemployment is back below 5% for the first time since 2008. From a post peak low of 6.7% in November 2020, the unemployment rate has now risen by 0.0 percentage points. Management, professional, and related occupations grew by 1.1 million over the year, to 59.8 million, with almost all of the gain occurring among adult men. Those in the latter category do not expect to be recalled; they are further categorized as either permanent job losers or people who have completed temporary jobs. March 2017, https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2017.11. Multiple jobholders accounted for 5.1 percent of the employed—little changed over the year. The US U-6 Unemployment Rate measures the total number of employees in the United States that are a part of the labor force, but are without a job. “In November, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage point to 4.6 percent,and the number of unemployed persons declined by 387,000 to 7.4 million. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the unemployment rate for people with a disability was 9.6 percent―a 1.4-percentage-point decline from a year earlier―but continued to be more than twice as high as the rate for people with no disability (4.3 percent). Vernon Brundage Jr. is an economist in the Division of Labor Force Statistics, Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment estimates from the CPS give information about workers in both the agricultural and nonagricultural sectors and in all types of work arrangements: workers with wage and salary jobs (including employment in a private household), those who are self-employed, and those doing unpaid work for at least 15 hours a week in a business or farm operated by a family member. 13 Data on earnings are collected from one-fourth of the CPS sample each month and are limited to the earnings of wage and salary workers. Before sharing sensitive information, The site is secure. (See figure 9.). information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. The .gov means it's official. Vernon Brundage Jr. and Evan Cunningham, "Unemployment holds steady for much of 2016 but edges down in the fourth quarter," The four groups are (1) job losers and people who complete temporary jobs, (2) job leavers, (3) reentrants, and (4) new entrants. All over-the-year changes are comparisons of fourth-quarter data from 2015 with fourth-quarter data from 2016, unless otherwise noted. The unemployment rate, which is calculated from a different survey, fell to 4.9% from 5%, the Labor Department said Friday. These individuals had searched for work sometime in the previous year and were available for work had a job been offered to them. The unemployment rate is a lagging indicator. Unemployment rates can be a good gauge for how the economy is performing in a particular region. (See table 1 and figure 1.). NOTE: The information regarding Unemployment rate (%) 2016 on this page is re-published from the CIA World Factbook 2016. Among the major demographic groups, Blacks, in line with a recent trend, continued their noteworthy employment growth, which was also reflected in an increase in the group’s employment–population ratio. Among those 65 years and older, the rates for people with a disability (7.6 percent) and without a disability (24.0 percent) were little changed in 2016. 10 For additional information, see Steven F. Hipple, “People who are not in the labor force: why aren’t they working?” Beyond the Numbers, December 2015, https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-4/people-who-are-not-in-the-labor-force-why-arent-they-working.htm. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The employment–population ratio is the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population that is employed. ), The civilian labor force increased by 2.1 million, to 159.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, whereas the labor force participation rate, at 62.7 percent, was little changed. The .gov means it's official. Among the remaining three alternative measures, U–4 declined to 5.0 percent, U–5 dropped to 5.8 percent, and U–6 fell to 9.3 percent. (See table 10.) According to the NBER, the most recent recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. Figure 6 shows the proportions of the unemployed who found a job, remained unemployed, or stopped looking for work and left the labor force over the month. The labor force participation rate for the foreign born edged down to 65.0 percent, while the rate for the native born ticked up to 62.1 percent. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - Hispanic or Latino (LNS14000009) from Mar 1973 to Dec 2020 about latino, hispanic, 16 years +, household survey, unemployment, rate, and USA. Monthly Labor Review, Finally, the employment situation of people with a disability saw a slight improvement. This proportion has been fluctuating in the 80-percent to 83-percent range since 2004. The reference periods for the surveys also differ. ), Management, professional, and related occupations, Management, business, and financial operations occupations, Food preparation and serving related occupations, Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations, Office and administrative support occupations, Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations, Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations, Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations, Production, transportation, and material moving occupations, Transportation and material moving occupations, Despite some relief in recent years, the proportion of people unemployed for long periods of time remained high by historical standards. In the fourth quarter of 2016, 1.9 million people were long-term unemployed (defined as those who were jobless for 27 weeks or longer); this number was down 211,000 from a year earlier.4 The long-term unemployed made up about 25 percent of the total unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2016. Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers rose by 2.8 percent in 2016, to $832, outpacing the over-the-year change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), which was 1.3 percent.13 (See table 7; the data in this section are annual averages.) 3–18, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2009/04/art1full.pdf. When Obama assumed office, the unemployment rate was still rising sharply. Another 4.0 million veterans served during Gulf War era II, 3.3 million served during Gulf War era I, and 5.1 million served outside of these designated periods. cunningham.evan@bls.gov. Of all self-employed people, 9.6 million, or about two-thirds, owned unincorporated businesses, while the remaining 5.8 million owned incorporated businesses. The series peaked at 7.5 percent of the population in 2010, in the aftermath of the most recent recession (2007–09). Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 25 years and older, by educational attainment, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 2015–16 (levels in thousands), Table 3. The unemployment rate for high school graduates was little changed, at 5.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, as was the rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree, at 2.4 percent. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the unemployment rate for the foreign born was 4.3 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier, while the rate for the native born declined by 0.3 percentage point over the year, to 4.6 percent. Among those not in the labor force who currently wanted a job, the number who were marginally attached to the labor force, 1.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, was essentially the same as that a year earlier. Among the major race and ethnicity groups, the unemployment rate for Blacks was much higher than the rates for other major race and ethnicity groups. But these aren't normal times. Both measures had shown little movement, on net, from August 2015 through October 2016”, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the 2nd of December. The percentage of multiple jobholders in the labor force has ranged between 4.7 percent and 5.1 percent over the past 5 years. (See table 4 and figure 5.). 2 People whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. These measures have been moving toward, but have not quite returned to, their prerecession patterns. Adjusted for inflation, men’s earnings rose by 1.1 percent and women's earnings increased by 1.6 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces two monthly employment series independently obtained: the estimate of total nonfarm jobs, derived from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, also called the establishment or payroll survey; and the estimate of total civilian employment, based on the Current Population Survey (CPS), also called the household survey. The labor force participation rate was little changed over the year. As a result, employment estimates from the CPS are higher than those from the CES survey. These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. Note: A person with a disability has at least one of the following conditions: is deaf or has serious difficulty hearing; is blind or has serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses; has serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions, because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition; has serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs; has difficulty dressing or bathing; or has difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping, because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition. 1 The data in this article are based on information collected in the Current Population Survey (CPS), also called the household survey, which is a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households nationwide. The uniform application of this definition results in estimates of unemployment rates that are more internationally comparable than estimates based on national definitions of unemployment. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, by selected characteristics, annual averages, 2015–16, Table 8. The labor force participation rate, at 62.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, was little changed from a year earlier.1. Note: The foreign born are those residing in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. BLS publishes a monthly report with the latest trends and comparisons of employment as measured by the CES survey and the CPS. At the same time, the unemployment rate fell to a still-high 6.7%, from 6.9% in October as many people stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed, the Labor Department said. Both the number of unemployed people and the unemployment rate were down over the year. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the unemployment rate for veterans―at 4.4 percent (not seasonally adjusted)―was little changed over the year, while the rate for nonveterans declined to 4.4 percent. Although much lower than the historical high of 45.1 percent in the second quarter of 2010, the proportion of long-term unemployed was still notably higher than the prerecession figure of 17.8 percent in the third quarter of 2007.5 (See table 4 and figure 4. However, even among those ages 16 to 64 years, people with a disability had much lower labor force participation rates than those with no disability. Table 1. (See table 8.) Employment (as measured by the CPS, or household survey) grew at about the same pace in 2016 as it did in 2015. In the CPS, however, employed people are counted only once, regardless of whether they hold more than one job during the survey reference period. Over the year, the labor force participation rate for men ages 16 to 64 years with a disability increased by 2.3 percentage points, to 34.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, while the rate for women ages 16 to 64 years (28.6 percent) was little changed. The unemployment rate declined to 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter, down by 0.3 percentage point over the year. People who do not currently want a job(1), People marginally attached to the labor force(2), Other people marginally attached to the labor force(4). https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any The BLS household survey showed that the US unemployment rate fell 0.0 percentage points in December 2020 to 6.7%.The unemployment rate peaked in April 2020 at 14.8% and is now 8.1 percentage points lower. The year 2016 was the second consecutive year in which unemployed people were about as likely to become employed as they were to leave the labor force. Before the start of the last recession, the rate was 26.9 percent. Veterans who served during one of the selected wartime periods and another period are classified only in the wartime period. The result is: 9.71 %. October 12, 2016. Employment, by occupational group and gender, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, 2015–16 (in thousands), Table 6. 3 Unemployment rates by occupation are based on the most recent job an individual held. Of those not in the labor force, about 40 percent were 65 years and older. Among those in the 16-to-64 age group with no disability, the labor force participation rates for men (82.2 percent) and women (70.7 percent) edged up over the year. In December 2020, the national unemployment rate was at 6.7 percent. Note: Race and Hispanic ethnicity totals do not sum to overall total for people 16 years and older because data are not presented for all races and because people of Hispanic ethnicity may be of any race and are also included in the race groups. U3: This is the official unemployment rate, which is the proportion of the civilian labor force that is unemployed but actively seeking employment. All of the net increase for people not in the labor force occurred among those who did not want a job.10 The number of people outside the labor force who indicated that they wanted a job was little changed over the year, at 5.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.11 (See table 6.) Over the year, the unemployment rate for Blacks declined by 0.9 percentage point, to 8.1 percent, the lowest rate since the third quarter of 2007. This is … No claims are made regarding theaccuracy of Unemployment rate (%) 2016 information contained here. That is, they were born outside the United States or one of its outlying areas, such as Puerto Rico or Guam, to parents neither of whom was a U.S. citizen. The US Unemployment Rate in the past 25 Months The US Unemployment Rate decreased by -0.2% in 2018, by -0.4% in 2019 and increased by +3.2% since December 2019. Changes in the unemployment rate in 2016 varied across demographic groups. All five alternative measures declined over the year. The Over the year, the number of employed adult men rose by 1.3 million, to 78.3 million, and the number of employed adult women rose by 929,000, to 68.7 million. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey and Consumer Price Index. U–1 shows the number of individuals unemployed 15 weeks or longer as a percentage of the labor force, while U–2 presents job losers and people who completed temporary jobs as a percentage of the labor force. The relatively low labor force participation rate among people with a disability is driven, in part, by a high concentration of people 65 years and older in the group. ), In 2016, employment rose in two out of five major occupation groups. The ratio among teenagers edged up by 1.0 percentage point, to 29.8 percent in the fourth quarter. Veterans could have served anywhere in the world during these periods of service: Gulf War era II (September 2001–present), Gulf War era I (August 1990–August 2001), Vietnam era (August 1964–April 1975), Korean War (July 1950–January 1955), World War II (December 1941–December 1946), and other service periods. (See table 1 and figure 7.). The likelihood of an unemployed person finding a job was 25.7 percent in December 2016, little changed from a year earlier. ), Job losers and people who completed temporary jobs, Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, The number of people unemployed for a year or longer (1.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, not seasonally adjusted) edged down in 2016. None of the measures, including U–3 (the official unemployment rate), returned to their prerecession low points, but all have shown a similar downward trend. Country Unemployment rate (%) Source / date of information Afghanistan 11.2: 2020 (June) Albania 11.9: 2020 (Q2) Algeria 11.5: 2020 American Samoa (United States) 18.0: 2012 Andorra 3.7: 2016 Angola 6.8: 2020 Anguilla (United Kingdom) 7.8: 2013 (July) Antigua and Barbuda 11.0 Both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate continued to decline, with much of the improvement occurring in the fourth quarter. The jobless rate for service occupations decreased by 0.9 percentage point, to 5.7 percent, and the rate for sales and office occupations declined over the year, to 4.2 percent. The CPS is a survey of households that provides a measure of employed people age 16 and older in the civilian noninstitutional population. 6 For additional information, see Thomas Luke Spreen, “Ranks of those unemployed for a year or more up sharply,” Issues in Labor Statistics, Summary 10-10 (U.S. Bureau Labor Statistics, October 2010), https://www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils87.pdf. Continued improvement in U.S. labor market in 2014, Monthly Labor Review, April 2015. Number of people not in the labor force, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, 2012–16 (in thousands), Table 7. An official website of the United States government 7 For additional information and analysis of data, see Randy E. Ilg and Eleni Theodossiou, “Job search of the unemployed by duration of unemployment,” Monthly Labor Review, March 2012, pp. In addition, the article explores changes in usual weekly earnings, duration of unemployment, and labor force flows and reviews the employment situation of veterans, people with a disability, and the foreign born. The earnings comparisons in this section are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be significant in explaining differences in earnings, such as job skills and responsibilities, work experience, and specialization. Looking forward, we estimate Unemployment Rate in the United States to stand at 6.50 in 12 months time. For example, following the end of the 2001 recession, CPS employment began to trend upward while CES employment continued to decline for a number of months. Blacks made up 12.0 percent of total employment in 2016, but accounted for about 22 percent of the overall over-the-year increase in employment. This article examines the behavior of key labor market indicators from the CPS in 2016 and takes a detailed look at these indicators by various demographic characteristics, including age, gender, and race and ethnicity. Earnings of self-employed workers, whether or not their businesses are incorporated, are excluded from CPS earnings estimates. One can better understand unemployment by using flows data to analyze the current employment status of people who were unemployed in the previous month. The likelihood of the unemployed remaining unemployed from one month to the next was the lowest since May 2007, when the rate was 48.2 percent. The employment–population ratio for all people 16 years and older increased between the fourth quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, but then held fairly steady through 2016. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Unemployment rate little changed in September 2016 on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/unemployment-rate-little-changed-in-september-2016.htm (visited January 24, 2021). The real unemployment rate dipped from 12.0% to 11.7% in December. The unemployment rate in the Philippines surged to 8.7 percent in the December quarter of 2020 from 4.5 percent in the same quarter a year earlier, amid the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus crisis. 8 The self-employed are those who work, as their main job, for profit or fees either in their own business, profession, or trade or on their own farm. The labor force participation rate―the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and older that is working or looking for work―had previously been trending downward. In the CPS, the reference period is generally the calendar week that includes the 12th day of the month. The civilian labor force—the sum of the employed and the unemployed―grew by 2.1 million, to 159.6 million. The number of employed Whites rose by 1.1 million over the year, to reach 119.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. The labor force participation rates for all of the major race and ethnicity groups also showed little change in 2016. Note: Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. (3) Includes those who did not actively look for work in the prior 4 weeks for reasons such as thinks no work available, could not find work, lacks schooling or training, employer thinks too young or old, and other types of discrimination. Both measures have shown little movement since August 2015. Employment, as measured by the CPS, expanded over the year by 2.5 million, about the same as in 2015. The number of people employed part time for economic reasons declined to 5.7 million in 2016. In 2016, median weekly earnings for workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher ($1,259) were up 2.4 percent from a year earlier. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. The rate of labor market “churn”―the proportion of people changing their labor force status―hit its lowest point since the series began in 1990. This number represents 16.8 percent of the total unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2016, the lowest proportion since the second quarter of 2009 (14.2 percent). The Unemployment Rate measures the percentage of the total work force that is unemployed and actively seeking employment during the previous month. However, the over-the-year decline in the number of involuntary part-time workers was largely driven by a decline in the number of people who could not find a full-time job. U–4 through U–6 are broader than U–1, U–2, and the official unemployment measure: in addition to the total unemployed, U–4 adds discouraged workers; U–5 adds all persons marginally attached to the labor force (including discouraged workers); and U–6 adds all people marginally attached to the labor force, plus people employed part time for economic reasons.