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Duration of unemployment, October 2016

November 08, 2016

There were 7.8 million people who were unemployed in October 2016, meaning they had not worked during the October reference week, they were available for work at that time, and they had actively searched for a job sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week. Approximately 60 percent of the people who were unemployed in October had been unemployed for fewer than 15 weeks.

Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment, percent distribution, January 2006–October 2016
Month Less than 5 weeks 5 to 14 weeks 15 to 26 weeks 27 weeks and over

Jan 2006

36.1 31.4 15.7 16.7

Feb 2006

35.7 29.0 16.6 18.7

Mar 2006

37.8 28.4 15.1 18.6

Apr 2006

37.2 29.9 14.3 18.6

May 2006

36.2 31.1 13.8 18.9

Jun 2006

39.2 30.0 14.2 16.6

Jul 2006

38.1 29.8 13.8 18.3

Aug 2006

36.4 31.5 13.8 18.3

Sep 2006

37.8 29.8 14.3 18.1

Oct 2006

38.6 31.0 14.5 15.9

Nov 2006

36.5 32.1 14.9 16.4

Dec 2006

38.6 30.4 14.7 16.2

Jan 2007

36.7 32.5 14.5 16.3

Feb 2007

37.0 31.2 13.8 18.0

Mar 2007

34.4 31.9 15.1 18.6

Apr 2007

35.5 31.5 15.5 17.4

May 2007

35.8 31.7 16.0 16.5

Jun 2007

36.6 30.6 16.3 16.4

Jul 2007

35.4 31.2 15.2 18.3

Aug 2007

36.8 30.4 15.3 17.5

Sep 2007

35.5 31.8 15.1 17.5

Oct 2007

34.6 34.1 13.6 17.7

Nov 2007

36.5 30.9 13.7 18.9

Dec 2007

35.8 31.3 15.5 17.4

Jan 2008

34.1 32.1 15.4 18.5

Feb 2008

35.5 31.7 14.9 17.8

Mar 2008

36.0 32.3 14.9 16.9

Apr 2008

32.2 33.2 17.0 17.7

May 2008

38.4 29.0 14.3 18.3

Jun 2008

31.7 34.7 15.4 18.2

Jul 2008

32.4 32.2 16.5 18.9

Aug 2008

34.5 29.2 16.5 19.8

Sep 2008

29.9 31.9 16.8 21.3

Oct 2008

31.0 29.9 16.7 22.3

Nov 2008

31.7 31.0 16.2 21.1

Dec 2008

28.8 31.0 17.1 23.1

Jan 2009

29.5 30.6 17.3 22.6

Feb 2009

26.9 30.7 19.1 23.4

Mar 2009

25.7 30.6 19.5 24.2

Apr 2009

24.1 29.9 19.0 27.1

May 2009

22.0 30.3 20.7 27.0

Jun 2009

20.8 27.0 23.2 29.0

Jul 2009

21.7 24.2 20.2 34.0

Aug 2009

20.0 26.7 19.0 34.3

Sep 2009

18.9 25.1 19.4 36.6

Oct 2009

20.9 23.0 19.5 36.6

Nov 2009

18.7 23.0 18.9 39.3

Dec 2009

19.0 22.8 17.9 40.4

Jan 2010

19.2 22.3 16.9 41.6

Feb 2010

18.6 22.4 18.5 40.5

Mar 2010

18.3 21.7 16.8 43.2

Apr 2010

18.2 20.7 15.6 45.5

May 2010

18.7 21.1 15.3 44.9

Jun 2010

18.2 21.4 15.5 44.9

Jul 2010

19.4 20.5 15.2 44.9

Aug 2010

18.3 24.2 14.8 42.8

Sep 2010

19.3 22.7 15.7 42.3

Oct 2010

18.2 22.9 16.3 42.6

Nov 2010

19.5 22.2 15.9 42.4

Dec 2010

18.7 22.0 14.7 44.6

Jan 2011

19.0 21.5 15.7 43.8

Feb 2011

17.9 22.7 16.6 42.8

Mar 2011

18.5 21.8 15.1 44.6

Apr 2011

20.2 21.7 15.2 43.0

May 2011

19.4 21.1 14.9 44.7

Jun 2011

20.9 21.2 13.3 44.6

Jul 2011

19.2 21.3 14.4 45.1

Aug 2011

19.1 21.5 15.8 43.6

Sep 2011

19.7 20.7 14.4 45.2

Oct 2011

19.4 23.7 14.3 42.6

Nov 2011

19.4 22.1 15.2 43.2

Dec 2011

20.4 21.9 15.0 42.7

Jan 2012

19.3 22.7 15.2 42.8

Feb 2012

20.4 22.3 15.9 41.3

Mar 2012

21.3 22.0 15.3 41.3

Apr 2012

20.9 22.8 15.5 40.7

May 2012

20.2 23.8 13.4 42.6

Jun 2012

21.5 21.9 14.3 42.3

Jul 2012

21.1 23.7 13.9 41.3

Aug 2012

22.4 22.5 14.7 40.4

Sep 2012

20.9 23.2 15.4 40.5

Oct 2012

21.5 23.3 14.6 40.7

Nov 2012

21.9 23.2 14.8 40.1

Dec 2012

22.4 23.6 15.3 38.8

Jan 2013

22.4 25.2 14.9 37.5

Feb 2013

22.8 23.6 14.4 39.2

Mar 2013

21.2 24.4 15.4 39.0

Apr 2013

21.2 24.6 16.9 37.2

May 2013

22.9 22.7 16.9 37.5

Jun 2013

22.7 24.0 16.1 37.2

Jul 2013

21.9 24.5 15.7 37.9

Aug 2013

22.3 24.1 15.2 38.4

Sep 2013

23.2 23.7 16.2 36.9

Oct 2013

25.0 23.4 15.8 35.7

Nov 2013

22.4 23.9 15.9 37.8

Dec 2013

22.4 24.4 16.0 37.2

Jan 2014

24.2 24.0 16.5 35.3

Feb 2014

23.1 25.2 15.2 36.5

Mar 2014

23.6 24.8 16.2 35.4

Apr 2014

24.9 24.2 16.0 34.9

May 2014

26.3 24.4 14.9 34.5

Jun 2014

25.7 25.4 15.9 32.9

Jul 2014

26.5 25.4 14.8 33.3

Aug 2014

27.8 25.3 15.7 31.2

Sep 2014

25.6 27.0 15.5 31.9

Oct 2014

27.2 25.3 15.7 31.8

Nov 2014

27.4 26.1 15.4 31.1

Dec 2014

27.2 26.5 14.5 31.8

Jan 2015

27.0 26.3 15.5 31.3

Feb 2015

28.0 25.9 15.2 30.8

Mar 2015

28.9 27.0 14.6 29.5

Apr 2015

31.1 26.8 13.3 28.7

May 2015

27.6 28.9 14.8 28.7

Jun 2015

28.6 28.6 16.9 25.9

Jul 2015

30.5 27.8 14.6 27.1

Aug 2015

26.6 29.8 15.9 27.7

Sep 2015

30.0 27.9 15.5 26.6

Oct 2015

29.3 28.7 15.4 26.7

Nov 2015

30.2 28.2 15.9 25.7

Dec 2015

30.4 27.7 15.6 26.3

Jan 2016

29.0 29.4 14.6 26.9

Feb 2016

29.3 28.6 14.5 27.7

Mar 2016

30.1 27.5 14.7 27.6

Apr 2016

31.6 26.5 16.2 25.7

May 2016

29.4 29.8 15.6 25.1

Jun 2016

31.5 27.9 14.7 25.8

Jul 2016

28.4 29.8 15.1 26.6

Aug 2016

29.8 30.3 13.8 26.1

Sep 2016

32.4 28.1 14.6 24.9

Oct 2016

30.6 29.3 14.9 25.2

Those who were unemployed for 15 to 26 weeks accounted for 15 percent of the October 2016 total. The long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or longer) made up the remaining 25 percent of total unemployment.

Long-term unemployment accounted for over 40 percent of the total between December 2009 and November 2012.

In October 2016, the median duration of unemployment was 10.2 weeks. In October 2015, the median duration was 11.1 weeks.

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. For more information, see "The Employment Situation — October 2016" (HTML) (PDF). More charts featuring Current Population Survey data are presented in Charts related to the latest "The Employment Situation" news release.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Duration of unemployment, October 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/duration-of-unemployment-october-2016.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

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