7.6 percent of all workers experienced unemployment in 2022

In 2022, the work-experience unemployment rate (those looking for work during the year as a percentage of those who worked or looked for work during the year) continued to decline. In 2022, the work-experience unemployment rate fell by 1.9 percentage points to 7.6 percent.

In 2022, men continued to have a higher work-experience unemployment rate than women, at 7.9 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively. The rates for both men and women declined from the prior year.

The number of individuals who both worked and experienced unemployment in 2022 was 10.9 million, a decline of 2.4 million from the previous year. Among these workers, 43.3 percent looked for work for 15 weeks or more, down from 51.8 percent the year before. The median weeks of unemployment for all workers who searched for work in 2022 was 12.8, down from 16.0 weeks in 2021. Men spent a median of 13.2 weeks in 2022 looking for work, while women spent a median of 12.2 weeks.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see "Work Experience of the Population — 2022."