Current Unemployment Situation

Most Recent BLS Data

• The most recent data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Unemployment Rate - Recent History

• December 2024: The unemployment rate changed little, standing at 4.1 percent.
• Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 256,000 in December 2024.
• Employment trended up in health care, government, and social assistance.
• Retail trade added jobs in December, following a job loss in November.

Discouraged and Marginally Attached Workers

• Marginally attached workers are persons not in the labor force who want and are available for a job and who have looked for work sometime in the prior 12 months but were not counted as unemployed because they had not actively looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
• Discouraged workers are a subset of the marginally attached; they are not currently looking for work specifically because they believe no jobs are available for them.

U3, U4, & U6 Unemployment Measures

• U-1: Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer as a percentage of the civilian labor force.
• U-2: Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs as a percentage of the civilian labor force.
• U-3: Total unemployed as a percentage of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate).
• U-4: Total unemployed plus discouraged workers as a percentage of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers.
• U-5: Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers as a percentage of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.
• U-6: Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part-time for economic reasons as a percentage of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.

Unemployment by Education

• Unemployment rates vary significantly based on educational attainment.
• Generally, higher levels of education correlate with lower unemployment rates.

Labor Force Participation Rate

• The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population that is in the labor force.
• The labor force includes all people who are either employed or actively seeking employment.

International Unemployment Rates (May 2024 or Latest Available)

• Spain: 11.7%
• Greece: 10.6%
• Colombia: 10.0%
• Costa Rica: 8.5%
• Türkiye: 8.5%
• Sweden: 8.2%
• Finland: 8.2%
• Chile: 8.1%
• Lithuania: 7.7%
• France: 7.4%
• Estonia: 7.4%
• Italy: 6.8%
• Latvia: 6.7%
• Portugal: 6.5%
• Canada: 6.4% (June 2024)
• Belgium: 5.9%
• Denmark: 5.8%
• Luxembourg: 5.7%
• Slovak Republic: 5.5%
• Austria: 5.0%
• OECD: 4.9%
• United Kingdom: 4.4% (March 2024)
• New Zealand: 4.3% (Q1 2024)
• Hungary: 4.3%
• United States: 4.1% (June 2024)
• Norway: 4.1%
• Switzerland: 4.1% (Q1 2024)
• Australia: 4.0%
• Ireland: 4.0%
• Netherlands: 3.6%
• Iceland: 3.5% (February 2024)
• Israel: 3.4%
• Germany: 3.3%
• Slovenia: 3.2%
• Poland: 3.0%
• Korea: 2.8%
• Czechia: 2.7%
• Mexico: 2.6%
• Japan: 2.6%