In 2025, it was estimated that over 163 million Americans were in some form of employment, while 4.16 percent of the total workforce was unemployed. This was the lowest unemployment rate since the 1950s, although these figures are expected to rise in 2023 and beyond. 1980s-2010s Since the 1980s, the total United States labor force has generally risen as the population has grown, however, the annual average unemployment rate has fluctuated significantly, usually increasing in times of crisis, before falling more slowly during periods of recovery and economic stability. For example, unemployment peaked at 9.7 percent during the early 1980s recession, which was largely caused by the ripple effects of the Iranian Revolution on global oil prices and inflation. Other notable spikes came during the early 1990s; again, largely due to inflation caused by another oil shock, and during the early 2000s recession. The Great Recession then saw the U.S. unemployment rate soar to 9.6 percent, following the collapse of the U.S. housing market and its impact on the banking sector, and it was not until 2016 that unemployment returned to pre-recession levels. 2020s 2019 had marked a decade-long low in unemployment, before the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic saw the sharpest year-on-year increase in unemployment since the Great Depression, and the total number of workers fell by almost 10 million people. Despite the continuation of the pandemic in the years that followed, alongside the associated supply-chain issues and onset of the inflation crisis, unemployment reached just 3.67 percent in 2022 - current projections are for this figure to rise in 2023 and the years that follow, although these forecasts are subject to change if recent years are anything to go by.

In 1990, the unemployment rate of the United States stood at 5.6 percent. Since then there have been many significant fluctuations to this number - the 2008 financial crisis left millions of people without work, as did the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of 2022 and throughout 2023, the unemployment rate came to 3.6 percent, the lowest rate seen for decades. However, 2024 saw an increase up to four percent. For monthly updates on unemployment in the United States visit either the monthly national unemployment rate here, or the monthly state unemployment rate here. Both are seasonally adjusted. UnemploymentUnemployment is defined as a situation when an employed person is laid off, fired or quits his work and is still actively looking for a job. Unemployment can be found even in the healthiest economies, and many economists consider an unemployment rate at or below five percent to mean there is 'full employment' within an economy. If former employed persons go back to school or leave the job to take care of children they are no longer part of the active labor force and therefore not counted among the unemployed. Unemployment can also be the effect of events that are not part of the normal dynamics of an economy. Layoffs can be the result of technological progress, for example when robots replace workers in automobile production. Sometimes unemployment is caused by job outsourcing, due to the fact that employers often search for cheap labor around the globe and not only domestically. In 2022, the tech sector in the U.S. experienced significant lay-offs amid growing economic uncertainty. In the fourth quarter of 2022, more than 70,000 workers were laid off, despite low unemployment nationwide. The unemployment rate in the United States varies from state to state. In 2021, California had the highest number of unemployed persons with 1.38 million out of work.

The seasonally-adjusted national unemployment rate is measured on a monthly basis in the United States. In August 2025, the national unemployment rate was at 4.3 percent. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical method of removing the seasonal component of a time series that is used when analyzing non-seasonal trends.

The underemployment rate, the percent of employed people who are working part-time but prefer to be working full-time, moves closely with the unemployment rate, rising during recessions and falling during expansions. Following the Great Recession, the underemployment rate had stayed persistently elevated when compared to the unemployment rate, that is, until the COVID-19 recession. Since then, it has been consistent with its pre-2008 levels. We find that changes in relative industry size account for essentially none of the underemployment rate increase after the Great Recession nor the underemployment rate decrease after the COVID-19 recession. Based on this finding, we do not expect the underemployment rate to revert to its pre-COVID-19 levels if industry composition reverts to its pre-COVID-19 structure.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - Black or African American (LNS14000006) from Jan 1972 to Sep 2025 about African-American, 16 years +, household survey, unemployment, rate, and USA.

In 2021, the unemployment rate among the United States workforce was approximately 5.35 percent - this was roughly 3.8 percent lower than the unemployment rate in 2020, during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, but was still around one percent higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The employment and unemployment indicator shows several data points. The first figure is the number of people in the labor force, which includes the number of people who are either working or looking for work. The second two figures, the number of people who are employed and the number of people who are unemployed, are the two subcategories of the labor force. The unemployment rate is a calculation of the number of people who are in the labor force and unemployed as a percentage of the total number of people in the labor force.

The unemployment rate does not include people who are not employed and not in the labor force. This includes adults who are neither working nor looking for work. For example, full-time students may choose not to seek any employment during their college career, and are thus not considered in the unemployment rate. Stay-at-home parents and other caregivers are also considered outside of the labor force, and therefore outside the scope of the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate is a key economic indicator, and is illustrative of economic conditions in the county at the individual scale.

There are additional considerations to the unemployment rate. Because it does not count those who are outside the labor force, it can exclude individuals who were looking for a job previously, but have since given up. The impact of this on the overall unemployment rate is difficult to quantify, but it is important to note because it shows that no statistic is perfect.

The unemployment rates for Champaign County, the City of Champaign, and the City of Urbana are extremely similar between 2000 and 2023.

All three areas saw a dramatic increase in the unemployment rate between 2006 and 2009. The unemployment rates for all three areas decreased overall between 2010 and 2019. However, the unemployment rate in all three areas rose sharply in 2020 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate in all three areas dropped again in 2021 as pandemic restrictions were removed, and were almost back to 2019 rates in 2022. However, the unemployment rate in all three areas rose slightly from 2022 to 2023.

This data is sourced from the Illinois Department of Employment Security’s Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS), and from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Sources: Illinois Department of Employment Security, Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - Asian (LNU04032183) from Jan 2000 to Sep 2025 about asian, 16 years +, household survey, unemployment, rate, and USA.

This layer contains the latest 14 months of unemployment statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The data is offered at the nationwide, state, and county geography levels. Puerto Rico is included. These are not seasonally adjusted values. The layer is updated monthly with the newest unemployment statistics available from BLS. There are attributes in the layer that specify which month is associated to each statistic. Most current month: August 2025 (preliminary values at the state and county level) The attributes included for each month are:Unemployment rate (%)Count of unemployed populationCount of employed population in the labor forceCount of people in the labor force Data obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data downloaded: October 1, 2025Local Area Unemployment Statistics table download: https://www.bls.gov/lau/#tablesLocal Area Unemployment FTP downloads:State and CountyNation Data Notes:This layer is updated automatically when the BLS releases their most current monthly statistics. The layer always contains the most recent estimates. It is updated within days of the BLS"s county release schedule. BLS releases their county statistics roughly 2 months after-the-fact. The data is joined to 2023 TIGER boundaries from the U.S. Census Bureau.Monthly values are subject to revision over time.For national values, employed plus unemployed may not sum to total labor force due to rounding.As of the January 2022 estimates released on March 18th, 2022, BLS is reporting new data for the two new census areas in Alaska - Copper River and Chugach - and historical data for the previous census area - Valdez Cordova.As of the March 17th, 2025 release, BLS now reports data for 9 planning regions in Connecticut rather than the 8 previous counties. To better understand the different labor force statistics included in this map, see the diagram below from BLS:

Unemployment rate gap changes (β) by Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), overall and by svi theme, among rapid riser counties† (N = 585) before and after¶ a rapid rise in COVID-19 incidence --- United States.

US Covid-19 Cases, Deaths and Mobility by State/County

Analyzing the Impact of the Pandemic on Low-Income Populations

By Liz Friedman [source]

About this dataset

Welcome to the Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker! Our goal is to provide a comprehensive, real-time look into how COVID-19 and stabilization policies are affecting the US economy. To do this, we have compiled a wide array of data points on spending and employment, gathered from several sources.

This dataset includes daily/weekly/monthly information at the state/county/city level for eight types of data: Google Mobility; Low-Income Employment and Earnings; UI Claims; Womply Merchants and Revenue; as well as weekly Math Learning from Zearn. Additionally, three files- Accounting for Geoids-State/County/City provide crosswalks between geographic areas that can be merged with other files having shared geographical levels.

Our goal here is to enable data users around the world to follow economic conditions in the US during this tumultuous period with maximum clarity and precision. We make all our datasets freely available so if you use them we kindly ask you attribute our work by linking or citing both our accompanying paper as well as this Economic Tracker at https://tracktherecoveryorg By doing so you are also agreeing to uphold our privacy & integrity standards which commit us both to individual & business confidentiality without compromising on independent nonpartisan research & policy analysis!

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How to use the dataset

This dataset provides US COVID-19 case and death data, as well as Google Community Mobility Reports, on the state/county level. Here is how to use this dataset:

• Understand the file structure: This dataset consists of three main files: 1) US Cases & Deaths by State/County, 2) Google Community Mobility Reports, and 3) Data from third-parties providing small business openings & revenue information and unemployment insurance claim data (Low Inc Earnings & Employment, UI Claims and Womply Merchants & Revenue).
• Select your Subset: If you are interested in particular types of data (e.g., mobility or employment), select the corresponding files from within each section based on your geographic area of interest – national, state or county level – as indicated in each filename.
• Review metadata variables: Become familiar with the provided variables so that you can select which ones you need to explore further in your analysis. For example, if analyzing mobility trends at a city level look for columns such as ‘Retailer_and_recreation_percent_change’ or ‘Transit Stations Percent Change’; if focusing on employment decline look for columns such pay or emp figures that align with industries of interest to you such as low-income earners (emp_{inclow},pay_{inclow}).
• Unify dateformatting across row values : Convert date formats into one common unit so that all entries have consistent formatting if necessary; for exampe some entries may display dates using YYYY/MM/DD notation while others may use MM//DD//YY format depending on their source datasets; make sure to review column labels carefully before converting units where needed..

• Merge datasets where applicable : Utilize GeoID crosswalks to combine multiple sets with same geographical coverageregionally covering ; example might be combining low income earnings figures with specific county settings by reference geo codes found in related documents like GeoIDs-County .
  6 . Visualise Data : Now that all the different measures have been reviewed can begin generating charts visualize findings . This process may include cleaning up raw figures normalizing across currency formats , mapping geospatial locations others ; once ready create bar graphs line charts maps other visual according aggregate output desired Insightful representations at this stage will help inform concrete policy decisions during outbreak recovery period..

  Remember to cite

Research Ideas

• Estimating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small Businesses - By comparing county-level Womply revenue and employment data with pre-COVID data, policymakers can gain an understanding of the economic impact that COVID has had on local small businesses.
• Analyzing Effects of Mobility Restrictions - The Google Mobility data provides insight into geographic areas where...

Context

To contribute towards the research and analysis on COVID-19 and it's impact on the human life, I have made this data available in usable format for analysis.

Content

1. This dataset contains time series data of unemployment rate in US from January 2010 to Present. It contains unemployment rate records based on education qualification, race, and gender of adults.
2. This dataset also contains state-wise unemployment rate data for year 2020. The data set is clean and doesn't require much pre-processing. Dataset can be used with BI tools like Tableau as well.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank "U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS" for making the data available. URL: https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ln

Inspiration

1. Combine with COVID-19 dataset to understand the impact on Unemployment rate in the United States.
2. Perform Individual study on Unemployment in United States.

In August 2025, the agriculture and related private wage and salary workers industry had the highest unemployment rate in the United States, at seven percent. In comparison, financial activities workers had the lowest unemployment rate, at 1.6 percent. The average for all industries was 4.5 percent. U.S. unemployment There are several factors that impact unemployment, as it fluctuates with the state of the economy. Unfortunately, the forecasted unemployment rate in the United States is expected to increase as we head into the latter half of the decade. Those with a bachelor’s degree or higher saw the lowest unemployment rate from 1992 to 2022 in the United States, which is attributed to the fact that higher levels of education are seen as more desirable in the workforce. Nevada unemployment Nevada is one of the states with the highest unemployment rates in the country and Vermont typically has one of the lowest unemployment rates. These are seasonally adjusted rates, which means that seasonal factors such as holiday periods and weather events that influence employment periods are removed. Nevada's economy consists of industries that are currently suffering high unemployment rates such as tourism. As of May 2023, about 5.4 percent of Nevada's population was unemployed, possibly due to the lingering impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

United States Unemployment: Male data was reported at 3,761.000 Person th in Apr 2025. This records a decrease from the previous number of 4,102.000 Person th for Mar 2025. United States Unemployment: Male data is updated monthly, averaging 3,558.500 Person th from Jan 1948 (Median) to Apr 2025, with 928 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11,010.000 Person th in Apr 2020 and a record low of 824.000 Person th in Oct 1952. United States Unemployment: Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.G: Current Population Survey: Unemployment. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

United States Unemployment: sa data was reported at 7,165.000 Person th in Apr 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 7,083.000 Person th for Mar 2025. United States Unemployment: sa data is updated monthly, averaging 6,602.500 Person th from Jan 1948 (Median) to Apr 2025, with 928 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 23,084.000 Person th in Apr 2020 and a record low of 1,596.000 Person th in May 1953. United States Unemployment: sa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.G: Current Population Survey: Unemployment: Seasonally Adjusted. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

Unemployment Rate in Canada decreased to 6.90 percent in October from 7.10 percent in September of 2025. This dataset provides - Canada Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Unemployment Rate in China decreased to 5.10 percent in October from 5.20 percent in September of 2025. This dataset provides - China Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

United States Unemployment: sa: Male data was reported at 3,959.000 Person th in Apr 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 3,800.000 Person th for Mar 2025. United States Unemployment: sa: Male data is updated monthly, averaging 3,564.500 Person th from Jan 1948 (Median) to Apr 2025, with 928 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11,220.000 Person th in Apr 2020 and a record low of 1,018.000 Person th in Mar 1953. United States Unemployment: sa: Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.G: Current Population Survey: Unemployment: Seasonally Adjusted. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

📊 Dataset Description:

This dataset is sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employment Situation – Table A-42. It provides detailed insights into employment and unemployment trends by educational attainment for individuals aged 25 years and older in the United States.

🌐 Source:

~**Publisher:** U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

~**Table Reference:** CPS Table A-42 – Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment

~**URL:** https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea42.htm

~**Update Frequency:** Monthly (as part of the Employment Situation release)

📑 Dataset Overview:

---The dataset includes:

~Year and Month of observation

~Employment and Unemployment counts

~Unemployment rates categorized by educational attainment, such as:

~Less than a high school diploma

~High school graduates, no college

~Some college or associate degree

~Bachelor’s degree and higher

🎯 Potential Uses:

~Analyze how education level impacts unemployment rates.

~Study long-term labor market trends across different demographics.

~Build forecasting models for employment/unemployment rates.

~Perform policy analysis to understand the role of education in job security.

⚠️ Notes:

~All values are based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the BLS.

~The dataset may contain seasonally adjusted and non-adjusted values.

~Numbers represent civilian noninstitutional population, 25 years and older.

Unemployment Rate in Japan remained unchanged at 2.60 percent in October. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Japan Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.