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The number of people who experienced some unemployment during 2024 was 14.7 million, up by 978,000 from 2023. Overall, 174.6 million people worked at some point in 2024, up by 2.6 million from the prior year.

Today may be April Fool's Day, but it's also the beginning of Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month, and this is no joke: You can't have STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) without math. Math is important in many occupations, some of which have greater than average wages and job growth that is faster than average.

In 2025, weekly overtime in manufacturing averaged 3.8 hours, compared with 3.6 hours in 2023 and 2024. Average weekly overtime in manufacturing reached 4.6 hours in 2018. In 2025, weekly overtime averaged 3.7 hours in durable goods (such as metal products and machinery) manufacturing and 3.8 hours in nondurable goods (such as food and plastics) manufacturing.

A self-paced workload is one that is mostly self-directed within general performance guidelines, allowing the worker significant discretion to vary timing of tasks within certain limits. In 2025, 18.5 percent of workers had a self-paced workload. Workers in some occupations are likely to have more control of their workloads than others. For example, 88.5 percent of workers in management occupations had a self-paced workload in 2025.