Work Experience of the Population (Annual) News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Tuesday, December 19, 2023           	         USDL-23-2616

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov  


                         WORK EXPERIENCE OF THE POPULATION -- 2022


There were 13.0 million persons who experienced unemployment at some point during 2022,
down significantly from 16.1 million in 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 
reported today. In 2022, labor market conditions continued to recover from the recession
induced by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The proportion of the civilian noninstitutional
population age 16 and over who worked at some time during the year increased by 0.5 
percentage point to 63.8 percent in 2022; this was 1.1 percentage points lower than
the pre-pandemic figure in 2019. 

These data are based on information collected in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement
(ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey conducted 
by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ASEC collects 
information on employment and unemployment experienced during the prior calendar year.
Additional information about the CPS and the ASEC, including concepts and definitions,
is provided in the Technical Note.

Highlights from the 2022 data:

 --A total of 169.8 million persons worked at some point during 2022, up by 2.9 million
   from the prior year. (See table 1.)

 --The proportion of workers who worked full time, year round in 2022 was 71.0 percent,
   up by 1.2 percentage points from the prior year. (See table 1.)

 --The "work-experience unemployment rate"--defined as the number of persons unemployed
   at some time during the year as a proportion of the number of persons who worked or
   looked for work during the year--decreased by 1.9 percentage points to 7.6 percent in 
   2022. This is the lowest rate in this series, which began in 1958. (See table 3.)

 --About 2.1 million individuals looked for a job but did not work at all in 2022, down
   by 790,000 from the prior year. (See table 3.)

Persons with Employment

Overall, 63.8 percent of the population worked in 2022, up from 63.3 percent in 2021. In
2022, the percentage of women who worked at some time during the year increased by 0.5
percentage point to 58.9 percent, and the percentage of men who worked at some time during
the year edged up by 0.3 percentage point to 68.8 percent. However, men remained more likely
to work at some time during the year than did women. (See table 1.)

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Hispanics (66.6 percent) and Asians (65.5 percent)
were more likely to have worked in 2022 than Whites (63.7 percent) and Blacks (62.9 percent).
The proportion of Blacks who worked at some time during the year increased by 1.7 percentage
points from the prior year, while the proportions for other groups were little changed. 
(See table 2.) 

Among those with work experience in 2022, 81.9 percent usually worked full time, essentially
unchanged from a year earlier. Men remained more likely to work full time than women (86.7
percent versus 76.4 percent). Blacks (84.8 percent) and Asians (84.2 percent) remained
more likely to work full time than Whites (81.4 percent) and Hispanics (82.0 percent). 
(See tables 1 and 2.)

Of those who worked during 2022, 80.6 percent were employed year round (working 50 to 52
weeks, either full or part time), up by 1.5 percentage points from 2021. The share of men
working year round increased to 82.4 percent, and the share of women working year round 
increased to 78.6 percent. Asians (83.0 percent) were more likely to work year round than
Whites (80.6 percent), Blacks (80.3 percent), and Hispanics (79.6 percent). (See tables 1 
and 2.)

Persons with Unemployment

Overall, 171.8 million persons worked or looked for work in 2022, up by 2.1 million from 
the prior year. The number who experienced some unemployment decreased by 3.1 million to 
13.0 million. (See table 3.)

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--this
is the lowest rate in the history of the series, which began in 1958. (See table 3.) 

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. (See table 3.) 

The work-experience unemployment rate decreased for all the major race and ethnicity groups
in 2022. Work-experience unemployment rates for Blacks (10.2 percent) and Hispanics (9.5
percent) were higher than those for Whites (7.1 percent) and Asians (6.3 percent). Among 
Whites and Blacks, the rate for men was higher than the rate for women, while among Asians
and Hispanics the rates for men and women were little different from each other. (See
table 4.)

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. Additionally,
20.5 percent had two or more spells of unemployment, little changed from the prior year.
The number of persons who looked for a job but did not work at all in 2022 declined to
2.1 million. Among those who did not work at all, 61.0 percent looked for work for 15 weeks
or more, down from 70.3 percent in 2021. (See table 3.)

Technical Note
 
    The data presented in this release were collected in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC)
to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 eligible households,
conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Data from the CPS are
used to obtain the monthly estimates of the nation's employment and unemployment levels. The ASEC, conducted
in the months of February through April, includes questions about work activity during the prior calendar year.
For instance, data collected in 2023 refer to the 2022 calendar year. Because the reference period is a full 
year, the number of persons with some employment or unemployment greatly exceeds the average levels for any
given month, which are based on a 1-week reference period, and the corresponding annual average of the monthly
estimates. As shown below, for example, the number experiencing any unemployment was about twice the number
unemployed in an average month during the year.

                	Employed	Unemployed
2022 estimates (in thousands)
Annual average of
monthly estimates	158,291	        5,996
Annual supplement data	169,767	        12,977

    In addition, estimates from the supplement differ from those obtained in the basic CPS because the
supplement uses different questions to classify workers as either employed or unemployed, and there are
fewer supplement questions on work and job search activity. Regarding unemployment, the supplement has no
questions on the type of job search activity or on the respondent's availability to work—defining 
characteristics of unemployment in the basic CPS estimates. Also, individuals can be counted as both employed
and unemployed in the work experience supplement data because it includes all work experience over a calendar
year, whereas, for a specific monthly reference week, each person is only counted in one category and employment
activity takes precedence over job search activity.
    The data presented in this release are not strictly comparable with data for earlier years due to the
introduction of updated population controls used in the CPS. The population controls are updated each year in 
January to reflect the latest information about population change. Additional information is available at
www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop. 

Reliability of the estimates

    Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. When a sample, rather than
the entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the true population
values they represent. The component of this difference that occurs because samples differ by chance is known as
sampling error, and its variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent
chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors
from the true population value because of sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent
level of confidence.
    The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons, including
the failure to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the
sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the collection
or processing of the data.
    A full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and information on estimating standard errors is
available at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability. 

    Concepts and definitions

    The principal terms used in this release are described briefly below. 

    Persons who worked. In the 2023 supplement, persons are considered to have worked if they responded "yes" to
either the question "Did you work at a job or business at any time during 2022?" or "Did you do any temporary,
part-time, or seasonal work even for a few days during 2022?"

    Unemployed persons. Persons who worked during the year but not in every week are counted as unemployed if they
also reported looking for work or being on layoff from a job during the year. Those who reported no work activity
during the year are considered unemployed if they responded "yes" to the question "Even though you did not work
in 2022, did you spend any time trying to find a job or on layoff?"

    Work-experience unemployment rate. The number of persons unemployed at some time during the year as a proportion
of the number of persons who worked or looked for work during the year.

    Labor force participants. Persons who either worked or were unemployed during the year.

    Usual full- and part-time employment. These data refer to the number of hours a worker typically works during
most weeks of the year. Workers are classified as full time if they usually worked 35 hours or more in a week;
part-time employment refers to workers whose typical workweek was between 1 and 34 hours.

    Year-round and part-year employment. Workers are classified as year round if they worked 50 to 52 weeks. 
Part-year employment refers to workers who worked fewer than 50 weeks.

    Other information

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