About the Author

Janie-Lynn Kang is an economist in the Division of Labor Force Statistics, Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Lisa M. Williamson
williamson.lisa@bls.gov

Lisa Williamson is an economist in the Division of Labor Force Statistics, Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Article

April 2016

Unemployment rate nears prerecession level by end of 2015

Unemployment continued to trend downward and employment expanded in 2015; long-term joblessness and involuntary part-time employment both declined over the year but remained high by historical standards.

The U.S. labor market logged another year of recovery in 2015 as the national unemployment rate continued to trend downward and employment expanded. In the fourth quarter of the year, 7.9 million people were unemployed and the unemployment rate declined to 5.0 percent, about half its peak following the 2007–09 recession. Total employment, as measured by the Current Population Survey (CPS; see accompanying box), expanded by 2.1 million in 2015, reaching 149.5 million by year’s end. Employment growth, however, occurred at a slower pace than in 2014, when employment expanded by 3.1 million. The employment–population ratio was 59.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, little changed from what it was the previous year. In 2015, the civilian labor force—the sum of the employed and the unemployed—rose to 157.4 million but the overall labor force participation rate declined to 62.5 percent.^{^¹}

This article reviews changes in major labor market indicators from the CPS in 2015. The article also examines changes in labor force status flows and usual weekly earnings, and summarizes the employment situations of veterans, people with a disability, and the foreign born. Data are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise noted.

Unemployment

Figure 1. Unemployment rate for people 16 years and older, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 1969–2015
Year and quarter	Unemployment rate
1969 Q1	3.4
1969 Q2	3.4
1969 Q3	3.6
1969 Q4	3.6
1970 Q1	4.2
1970 Q2	4.8
1970 Q3	5.2
1970 Q4	5.8
1971 Q1	5.9
1971 Q2	5.9
1971 Q3	6.0
1971 Q4	6.0
1972 Q1	5.8
1972 Q2	5.7
1972 Q3	5.6
1972 Q4	5.3
1973 Q1	5.0
1973 Q2	4.9
1973 Q3	4.8
1973 Q4	4.8
1974 Q1	5.1
1974 Q2	5.2
1974 Q3	5.6
1974 Q4	6.6
1975 Q1	8.2
1975 Q2	8.9
1975 Q3	8.5
1975 Q4	8.3
1976 Q1	7.7
1976 Q2	7.6
1976 Q3	7.7
1976 Q4	7.8
1977 Q1	7.5
1977 Q2	7.1
1977 Q3	6.9
1977 Q4	6.6
1978 Q1	6.3
1978 Q2	6.0
1978 Q3	6.0
1978 Q4	5.9
1979 Q1	5.9
1979 Q2	5.7
1979 Q3	5.9
1979 Q4	5.9
1980 Q1	6.3
1980 Q2	7.3
1980 Q3	7.7
1980 Q4	7.4
1981 Q1	7.4
1981 Q2	7.4
1981 Q3	7.4
1981 Q4	8.2
1982 Q1	8.8
1982 Q2	9.4
1982 Q3	9.9
1982 Q4	10.7
1983 Q1	10.4
1983 Q2	10.1
1983 Q3	9.4
1983 Q4	8.5
1984 Q1	7.9
1984 Q2	7.5
1984 Q3	7.4
1984 Q4	7.3
1985 Q1	7.3
1985 Q2	7.3
1985 Q3	7.2
1985 Q4	7.0
1986 Q1	7.0
1986 Q2	7.2
1986 Q3	7.0
1986 Q4	6.8
1987 Q1	6.6
1987 Q2	6.3
1987 Q3	6.0
1987 Q4	5.9
1988 Q1	5.7
1988 Q2	5.5
1988 Q3	5.5
1988 Q4	5.3
1989 Q1	5.2
1989 Q2	5.2
1989 Q3	5.3
1989 Q4	5.4
1990 Q1	5.3
1990 Q2	5.3
1990 Q3	5.7
1990 Q4	6.1
1991 Q1	6.6
1991 Q2	6.8
1991 Q3	6.9
1991 Q4	7.1
1992 Q1	7.4
1992 Q2	7.6
1992 Q3	7.6
1992 Q4	7.4
1993 Q1	7.2
1993 Q2	7.1
1993 Q3	6.8
1993 Q4	6.6
1994 Q1	6.6
1994 Q2	6.2
1994 Q3	6.0
1994 Q4	5.6
1995 Q1	5.5
1995 Q2	5.7
1995 Q3	5.7
1995 Q4	5.6
1996 Q1	5.5
1996 Q2	5.5
1996 Q3	5.3
1996 Q4	5.3
1997 Q1	5.2
1997 Q2	5.0
1997 Q3	4.9
1997 Q4	4.7
1998 Q1	4.6
1998 Q2	4.4
1998 Q3	4.5
1998 Q4	4.4
1999 Q1	4.3
1999 Q2	4.3
1999 Q3	4.2
1999 Q4	4.1
2000 Q1	4.0
2000 Q2	3.9
2000 Q3	4.0
2000 Q4	3.9
2001 Q1	4.2
2001 Q2	4.4
2001 Q3	4.8
2001 Q4	5.5
2002 Q1	5.7
2002 Q2	5.8
2002 Q3	5.7
2002 Q4	5.8
2003 Q1	5.9
2003 Q2	6.2
2003 Q3	6.1
2003 Q4	5.8
2004 Q1	5.7
2004 Q2	5.6
2004 Q3	5.4
2004 Q4	5.4
2005 Q1	5.3
2005 Q2	5.1
2005 Q3	5.0
2005 Q4	5.0
2006 Q1	4.7
2006 Q2	4.7
2006 Q3	4.6
2006 Q4	4.5
2007 Q1	4.5
2007 Q2	4.5
2007 Q3	4.7
2007 Q4	4.8
2008 Q1	5.0
2008 Q2	5.3
2008 Q3	6.0
2008 Q4	6.9
2009 Q1	8.3
2009 Q2	9.3
2009 Q3	9.6
2009 Q4	9.9
2010 Q1	9.8
2010 Q2	9.7
2010 Q3	9.5
2010 Q4	9.5
2011 Q1	9.0
2011 Q2	9.1
2011 Q3	9.0
2011 Q4	8.7
2012 Q1	8.3
2012 Q2	8.2
2012 Q3	8.0
2012 Q4	7.8
2013 Q1	7.7
2013 Q2	7.5
2013 Q3	7.3
2013 Q4	7.0
2014 Q1	6.6
2014 Q2	6.2
2014 Q3	6.1
2014 Q4	5.7
2015 Q1	5.5
2015 Q2	5.4
2015 Q3	5.1
2015 Q4	5.0
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

National unemployment declined by 1.0 million during the year, to 7.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. The decrease was about half that experienced the previous year. The unemployment rate declined by 0.7 percentage point over the year, to 5.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015. The rate reached a quarterly peak of 9.9 percent in the wake of the most recent recession and has been trending downward for the past 5 years. The rate at the start of the recent recession was 4.8 percent.^{^²} (See figure 1 and table 1.)

Table 1. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and older, by age and selected characteristics, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 2014–15 (levels in thousands)
Characteristic	2014	2015				Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Characteristic	Fourth quarter	First quarter	Second quarter	Third quarter	Fourth quarter	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Total, 16 years and older
Civilian labor force	156,316	156,931	157,128	157,014	157,432	1,116
Participation rate	62.8	62.8	62.7	62.5	62.5	-.3
Employed	147,400	148,223	148,659	148,950	149,523	2,123
Employment– population ratio	59.2	59.3	59.4	59.3	59.4	.2
Unemployed	8,915	8,708	8,468	8,064	7,909	-1,006
Unemployment rate	5.7	5.5	5.4	5.1	5.0	-.7
Men, 20 years and older
Civilian labor force	80,182	80,746	80,780	80,657	80,737	555
Participation rate	71.7	72.0	71.8	71.5	71.4	-.3
Employed	75,958	76,565	76,780	76,837	76,933	975
Employment– population ratio	68.0	68.2	68.2	68.1	68.0	.0
Unemployed	4,224	4,181	4,000	3,820	3,804	-420
Unemployment rate	5.3	5.2	5.0	4.7	4.7	-.6
Women, 20 years and older
Civilian labor force	70,333	70,397	70,607	70,756	71,014	681
Participation rate	58.4	58.1	58.2	58.2	58.2	-.2
Employed	66,668	66,902	67,150	67,431	67,809	1,141
Employment– population ratio	55.3	55.3	55.3	55.4	55.6	.3
Unemployed	3,665	3,494	3,458	3,325	3,205	-460
Unemployment rate	5.2	5.0	4.9	4.7	4.5	-.7
Total, 16 to 19 years
Civilian labor force	5,800	5,788	5,740	5,602	5,681	-119
Participation rate	34.9	34.8	34.5	33.7	34.2	-.7
Employed	4,775	4,756	4,730	4,682	4,781	6
Employment– population ratio	28.8	28.6	28.5	28.2	28.8	.0
Unemployed	1,026	1,032	1,010	920	900	-126
Unemployment rate	17.7	17.8	17.6	16.4	15.8	-1.9
White
Civilian labor force	123,302	123,856	123,625	123,381	123,562	260
Participation rate	62.9	63.1	62.9	62.6	62.6	-.3
Employed	117,306	117,945	117,867	117,863	118,129	823
Employment– population ratio	59.9	60.1	59.9	59.8	59.9	.0
Unemployed	5,996	5,911	5,759	5,518	5,432	-564
Unemployment rate	4.9	4.8	4.7	4.5	4.4	-.5
Black or African American
Civilian labor force	19,030	19,078	19,392	19,351	19,430	400
Participation rate	61.4	61.1	61.9	61.6	61.6	.2
Employed	16,992	17,133	17,499	17,559	17,690	698
Employment– population ratio	54.8	54.9	55.9	55.9	56.1	1.3
Unemployed	2,039	1,945	1,893	1,792	1,740	-299
Unemployment rate	10.7	10.2	9.8	9.3	9.0	-1.7
Asian
Civilian labor force	8,791	8,954	9,088	9,088	9,085	294
Participation rate	63.4	62.7	63.2	62.5	62.7	-.7
Employed	8,382	8,619	8,717	8,750	8,740	358
Employment– population ratio	60.5	60.4	60.6	60.2	60.3	-.2
Unemployed	409	335	371	338	345	-64
Unemployment rate	4.7	3.7	4.1	3.7	3.8	-.9
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity
Civilian labor force	25,689	26,040	26,137	26,097	26,231	542
Participation rate	66.3	66.4	66.2	65.7	65.6	-.7
Employed	23,976	24,286	24,373	24,376	24,564	588
Employment– population ratio	61.9	61.9	61.7	61.3	61.4	-.5
Unemployed	1,713	1,754	1,764	1,721	1,668	-45
Unemployment rate	6.7	6.7	6.7	6.6	6.4	-.3
Note: Race and Hispanic ethnicity totals do not sum to the overall total for 16 years and older because data are not presented for all races and because people of Hispanic ethnicity may be of any race and are also included in the race groups. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

Both the number of unemployed people and the unemployment rate declined in 2015 for adult men, adult women, and teenagers (16 to 19 years of age). By the fourth quarter, the jobless rate for adult men had declined by 0.6 percentage point, to 4.7 percent, and the rate for adult women had declined by 0.7 percentage point, to 4.5 percent. The unemployment rate for teenagers decreased over the year by 1.9 percentage points, to 15.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Figure 2. Unemployment rates, by race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 1990–2015
Year and quarter	Unemployment rate
Year and quarter	Whites	Blacks	Asians	Hispanic or Latino
1990 Q1	4.6	11.0	—	7.4
1990 Q2	4.6	10.6	—	8.0
1990 Q3	4.9	11.7	—	8.2
1990 Q4	5.3	12.3	—	9.1
1991 Q1	5.8	12.2	—	9.3
1991 Q2	6.1	12.7	—	10.0
1991 Q3	6.2	12.2	—	10.3
1991 Q4	6.3	12.9	—	10.5
1992 Q1	6.5	14.0	—	11.2
1992 Q2	6.7	14.4	—	11.6
1992 Q3	6.7	14.2	—	11.7
1992 Q4	6.5	14.2	—	11.7
1993 Q1	6.2	13.8	—	11.4
1993 Q2	6.2	13.5	—	10.5
1993 Q3	6.0	12.5	—	10.2
1993 Q4	5.9	12.1	—	10.9
1994 Q1	5.7	12.8	—	10.2
1994 Q2	5.4	11.6	—	10.3
1994 Q3	5.2	10.9	—	10.0
1994 Q4	4.9	10.7	—	9.2
1995 Q1	4.8	10.0	—	9.4
1995 Q2	5.0	10.5	—	9.3
1995 Q3	4.9	11.0	—	9.2
1995 Q4	4.9	9.9	—	9.4
1996 Q1	4.8	10.4	—	9.6
1996 Q2	4.8	10.5	—	9.3
1996 Q3	4.5	10.6	—	8.6
1996 Q4	4.6	10.6	—	8.0
1997 Q1	4.5	10.7	—	8.3
1997 Q2	4.2	10.4	—	7.8
1997 Q3	4.2	9.5	—	7.5
1997 Q4	4.0	9.7	—	7.3
1998 Q1	4.0	9.3	—	7.0
1998 Q2	3.8	8.9	—	7.0
1998 Q3	3.9	9.1	—	7.3
1998 Q4	3.9	8.3	—	7.3
1999 Q1	3.7	8.0	—	6.4
1999 Q2	3.8	7.6	—	6.8
1999 Q3	3.7	8.3	—	6.6
1999 Q4	3.5	8.1	—	6.1
2000 Q1	3.5	7.9	3.8	5.8
2000 Q2	3.4	7.5	3.8	5.7
2000 Q3	3.5	7.6	3.7	5.9
2000 Q4	3.4	7.3	3.1	5.6
2001 Q1	3.7	8.1	3.4	6.0
2001 Q2	3.9	8.1	3.9	6.4
2001 Q3	4.2	8.7	5.2	6.5
2001 Q4	4.9	9.8	5.3	7.4
2002 Q1	5.0	10.1	5.6	7.4
2002 Q2	5.1	10.5	6.2	7.5
2002 Q3	5.1	9.8	6.0	7.4
2002 Q4	5.1	10.6	5.7	7.9
2003 Q1	5.1	10.5	6.0	7.8
2003 Q2	5.4	11.1	6.2	8.0
2003 Q3	5.4	11.0	6.1	7.7
2003 Q4	5.1	10.6	5.6	7.1
2004 Q1	5.0	10.1	4.7	7.4
2004 Q2	5.0	10.0	4.5	6.9
2004 Q3	4.7	10.6	4.1	6.8
2004 Q4	4.6	10.7	4.4	6.6
2005 Q1	4.5	10.6	4.2	6.1
2005 Q2	4.4	10.2	3.9	6.0
2005 Q3	4.3	9.4	4.3	5.9
2005 Q4	4.3	9.7	3.5	6.0
2006 Q1	4.1	9.3	3.3	5.5
2006 Q2	4.1	9.0	3.4	5.1
2006 Q3	4.0	9.1	2.8	5.4
2006 Q4	3.9	8.4	2.8	4.9
2007 Q1	4.0	8.1	3.0	5.4
2007 Q2	4.0	8.3	3.1	5.6
2007 Q3	4.2	7.9	3.2	5.8
2007 Q4	4.3	8.7	3.7	5.9
2008 Q1	4.4	8.9	3.3	6.6
2008 Q2	4.7	9.2	3.9	7.2
2008 Q3	5.3	10.6	4.1	7.9
2008 Q4	6.3	11.7	4.6	8.9
2009 Q1	7.6	13.4	6.5	11.0
2009 Q2	8.5	14.9	7.2	12.1
2009 Q3	8.8	15.0	7.7	12.8
2009 Q4	9.1	15.9	7.7	12.7
2010 Q1	8.9	16.5	8.0	12.8
2010 Q2	8.8	15.8	7.4	12.3
2010 Q3	8.6	15.9	7.3	12.2
2010 Q4	8.7	15.8	7.3	12.7
2011 Q1	8.1	15.7	6.9	11.9
2011 Q2	8.0	16.3	6.8	11.7
2011 Q3	7.9	16.1	7.5	11.2
2011 Q4	7.7	15.2	6.9	11.2
2012 Q1	7.4	13.9	6.4	10.6
2012 Q2	7.4	13.7	5.6	10.7
2012 Q3	7.2	13.9	5.6	10.0
2012 Q4	6.9	13.8	6.0	9.9
2013 Q1	6.8	13.6	5.8	9.5
2013 Q2	6.7	13.5	4.8	9.2
2013 Q3	6.4	12.8	5.4	9.2
2013 Q4	6.1	12.4	4.9	8.8
2014 Q1	5.7	12.1	5.4	8.1
2014 Q2	5.3	11.2	5.4	7.5
2014 Q3	5.2	11.4	4.4	7.3
2014 Q4	4.9	10.7	4.7	6.7
2015 Q1	4.8	10.2	3.7	6.7
2015 Q2	4.7	9.8	4.1	6.7
2015 Q3	4.5	9.3	3.7	6.6
2015 Q4	4.4	9.0	3.8	6.4
Note: People of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity may be of any race. Data for Asians are not available before 2000 and are not seasonally adjusted before 2010. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

Unemployment rates continued to decline for most of the major race and ethnicity groups in 2015. The jobless rate for Blacks dropped by 1.7 percentage points over the year, to 9.0 percent in the fourth quarter, but the rate for Blacks remained much higher than the rates for the other major race and ethnicity groups. Up until the second quarter of 2015, the jobless rate for Blacks had been at double-digit levels for about 7 consecutive years. (See figure 2.) The jobless rate for Whites declined by 0.5 percentage point over the year, to 4.4 percent, and the rate for Asians declined by 0.9 percentage point, to 3.8 percent. By comparison, the jobless rate for Hispanics, 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, was little changed over the year.^{^³}

The CPS and the CES

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces two monthly employment series obtained from two different surveys: the estimate of total nonfarm jobs, derived from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, also called the establishment or payroll survey; and the estimate of total civilian employment, based on the Current Population Survey (CPS), also called the household survey. The two surveys use different definitions of employment, as well as different survey and estimation methods. The CES program is a survey of employers that provides a measure of the number of payroll jobs in nonfarm industries. The CPS is a survey of households that provides a measure of employed people ages 16 and older in the civilian noninstitutional population. Employment estimates from the CPS provide information about workers in both the agricultural and nonagricultural sectors and in all types of work arrangements: workers with wage and salary jobs (including employment in a private household), those who are self-employed, and those doing unpaid work for at least 15 hours a week in a business or farm operated by a family member. CES payroll employment estimates are restricted to nonagricultural wage and salary jobs and exclude private household workers. As a result, employment estimates from the CPS are higher than those from the CES survey. In the CPS, however, those who hold multiple jobs (referred to as “multiple jobholders”) are counted only once, regardless of how many jobs they held during the survey reference period. By contrast, because the CES survey counts the number of jobs rather than the number of people, each nonfarm job is counted separately even when two or more jobs are held by the same person.

The reference periods for the surveys also differ. In the CPS, the reference period is generally the calendar week that includes the 12th day of the month. In the CES survey, employers report the number of workers on their payrolls for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month. Because pay periods vary in length among employers and may be longer than 1 week, the CES employment estimates can reflect longer reference periods.

BLS publishes a monthly report with the latest trends and comparisons of employment as measured by the CES survey and the CPS. (See “Employment from the BLS household and payroll surveys: summary of recent trends” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), www.bls.gov/web/empsit/ces_cps_trends.htm.) This report includes a summary of possible causes of differences in the surveys’ employment trends, as well as links to additional research on the topic.

Figure 3. Unemployment rate for people 25 years and older, by educational attainment, seasonally adjusted, fourth quarter 2014 and fourth quarter 2015
Educational level	2014	2015
Total, 25 years and older	4.6	4.1
Less than a high school diploma	8.4	6.9
High school graduate, no college	5.6	5.4
Some college or associate's degree	4.9	4.3
Bachelor's degree and higher	3.0	2.5
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

In 2015, workers with less education continued to experience a higher unemployment rate than those with more education. The jobless rate for people 25 years and older with less than a high school diploma declined by 1.5 percentage points, to 6.9 percent, in 2015, and the rate for those with some college decreased by 0.6 percentage point, to 4.3 percent. The jobless rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree declined over the year by 0.5 percentage point, to 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter—still 0.7 percentage point above the prerecession low of 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006. The rate for high school graduates, 5.4 percent, was essentially unchanged over the year. (See figure 3 and table 2.)

Table 2. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 25 years and older, by educational attainment, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 2014–15 (levels in thousands)
Characteristic	2014	2015				Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Characteristic	Fourth quarter	First quarter	Second quarter	Third quarter	Fourth quarter	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Less than a high school diploma
Civilian labor force	11,021	11,193	11,130	10,715	10,845	-176
Participation rate	45.5	45.7	44.7	45.5	45.6	.1
Employed	10,093	10,238	10,198	9,873	10,093	0
Employment– population ratio	41.7	41.8	41.0	41.9	42.5	.8
Unemployed	927	956	932	843	751	-176
Unemployment rate	8.4	8.5	8.4	7.9	6.9	-1.5
High school graduate, no college
Civilian labor force	35,535	35,564	35,310	35,291	35,107	-428
Participation rate	57.6	57.6	57.2	57.0	57.1	-.5
Employed	33,557	33,649	33,358	33,379	33,206	-351
Employment– population ratio	54.4	54.5	54.0	53.9	54.0	-.4
Unemployed	1,978	1,914	1,951	1,912	1,901	-77
Unemployment rate	5.6	5.4	5.5	5.4	5.4	-.2
Some college or associate's degree
Civilian labor force	37,339	37,442	37,565	37,314	37,647	308
Participation rate	66.9	67.1	67.0	66.0	66.5	-.4
Employed	35,510	35,570	35,903	35,689	36,033	523
Employment– population ratio	63.6	63.7	64.0	63.1	63.6	.0
Unemployed	1,830	1,872	1,662	1,624	1,615	-215
Unemployment rate	4.9	5.0	4.4	4.4	4.3	-.6
Bachelor's degree and higher
Civilian labor force	51,121	51,481	51,684	52,533	52,836	1,715
Participation rate	74.6	74.4	74.8	74.4	74.0	-.6
Employed	49,591	50,112	50,310	51,224	51,521	1,930
Employment– population ratio	72.4	72.4	72.8	72.6	72.2	-.2
Unemployed	1,530	1,369	1,374	1,308	1,314	-216
Unemployment rate	3.0	2.7	2.7	2.5	2.5	-.5
Note: Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

Only a few of the major occupation groups exhibited noteworthy declines in unemployment in 2015. This situation contrasts with that of the previous 2 years, when unemployment rates declined for all major occupation groups. The jobless rate for sales and office occupations declined over the year, to 4.6 percent. The rate for management, professional, and related occupations also continued to decline in 2015; this occupation group continued to have the lowest unemployment rate among the major occupation groups, 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter.^{^⁴} The jobless rates were little changed over the year for natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations (6.7 percent); service occupations (6.6 percent); and production, transportation, and material moving occupations (5.8 percent). (See table 3.)

Table 3. Unemployment rates, by occupation group, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, 2014–15 (in percent)
Occupation group	Total			Men			Women
Occupation group	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Management, professional, and related occupations	2.7	2.1	-0.6	2.8	2.0	-0.8	2.7	2.2	-0.5
Management, business, and financial operations occupations	2.6	2.1	-.5	2.3	1.8	-.5	3.1	2.4	-.7
Professional and related occupations	2.8	2.1	-.7	3.2	2.1	-1.1	2.5	2.2	-.3
Service occupations	7.0	6.6	-.4	6.8	6.7	-.1	7.1	6.5	-.6
Health care support occupations	5.8	5.4	-.4	6.4	2.5	-3.9	5.8	5.7	-.1
Protective service occupations	4.4	4.4	.0	4.3	4.2	-.1	4.6	5.1	.5
Food preparation and serving related occupations	8.2	7.3	-.9	7.4	7.5	.1	8.8	7.1	-1.7
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	8.1	8.1	.0	7.9	8.0	.1	8.3	8.3	.0
Personal care and service occupations	5.9	5.7	-.2	6.7	6.6	-.1	5.7	5.5	-.2
Sales and office occupations	5.1	4.6	-.5	4.6	4.6	.0	5.4	4.6	-.8
Sales and related occupations	5.2	5.1	-.1	4.0	4.2	.2	6.3	5.9	-.4
Office and administrative support occupations	5.1	4.2	-.9	5.6	5.2	-.4	4.9	3.8	-1.1
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations	7.2	6.7	-.5	7.1	6.4	-.7	10.4	12.6	2.2
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	13.4	13.1	-.3	12.3	11.2	-1.1	17.1	19.0	1.9
Construction and extraction occupations	8.4	7.8	-.6	8.3	7.7	-.6	9.3	13.2	3.9
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	4.0	3.3	-.7	4.1	3.4	-.7	2.6	3.2	.6
Production, transportation, and material moving occupations	6.2	5.8	-.4	5.6	5.5	-.1	8.1	7.1	-1.0
Production occupations	6.2	5.0	-1.2	5.2	4.6	-.6	8.7	6.0	-2.7
Transportation and material moving occupations	6.1	6.6	.5	6.0	6.2	.2	6.9	8.8	1.9
Note: Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

Figure 4. Long-term unemployed as a percentage of total unemployed, quarterly averages, 1994–2015
Year and quarter	Percent unemployed—
Year and quarter	27 weeks or longer	52 weeks or longer	99 weeks or longer
1990 Q1	9.5	5.1	—
1990 Q2	9.5	5.8	—
1990 Q3	10.2	5.5	—
1990 Q4	10.6	5.7	—
1991 Q1	11.0	5.5	—
1991 Q2	12.1	6.1	—
1991 Q3	13.3	6.1	—
1991 Q4	15.2	7.3	—
1992 Q1	18.1	9.4	—
1992 Q2	20.3	11.4	—
1992 Q3	21.3	11.4	—
1992 Q4	21.7	12.3	—
1993 Q1	20.6	11.5	—
1993 Q2	19.1	11.6	—
1993 Q3	20.1	11.0	—
1993 Q4	20.7	11.9	—
1994 Q1	20.7	12.4	4.0
1994 Q2	20.9	12.8	4.5
1994 Q3	19.7	12.3	4.4
1994 Q4	19.8	11.4	3.7
1995 Q1	18.1	10.2	3.5
1995 Q2	17.7	9.9	3.5
1995 Q3	16.6	9.0	3.3
1995 Q4	16.5	9.6	3.0
1996 Q1	16.9	9.1	3.3
1996 Q2	18.6	10.0	3.5
1996 Q3	18.0	9.7	3.5
1996 Q4	16.2	9.0	3.3
1997 Q1	15.8	8.3	2.8
1997 Q2	15.9	8.3	2.3
1997 Q3	16.2	8.9	3.3
1997 Q4	15.4	9.6	3.3
1998 Q1	15.0	8.1	3.2
1998 Q2	13.7	7.9	3.2
1998 Q3	13.7	7.6	2.6
1998 Q4	13.8	8.4	2.9
1999 Q1	12.5	6.8	2.0
1999 Q2	12.5	7.1	2.4
1999 Q3	12.2	6.7	2.4
1999 Q4	12.1	6.6	2.4
2000 Q1	11.5	6.2	2.1
2000 Q2	11.0	5.4	2.2
2000 Q3	12.0	6.5	2.2
2000 Q4	11.1	5.9	2.1
2001 Q1	11.4	6.4	1.6
2001 Q2	10.7	5.6	1.6
2001 Q3	11.5	5.9	1.7
2001 Q4	13.1	6.4	2.1
2002 Q1	15.1	6.5	1.8
2002 Q2	18.4	8.3	2.2
2002 Q3	19.0	8.7	2.0
2002 Q4	20.8	10.7	2.7
2003 Q1	21.1	10.6	2.7
2003 Q2	22.1	12.4	3.6
2003 Q3	22.2	11.7	3.2
2003 Q4	22.9	12.6	3.4
2004 Q1	23.1	11.8	4.0
2004 Q2	22.2	13.6	4.6
2004 Q3	20.8	12.2	3.9
2004 Q4	21.2	13.2	4.6
2005 Q1	21.1	12.3	4.5
2005 Q2	19.9	12.2	4.5
2005 Q3	18.9	11.1	4.0
2005 Q4	18.5	11.3	3.8
2006 Q1	18.0	10.0	3.3
2006 Q2	18.0	10.1	3.0
2006 Q3	18.2	10.2	3.9
2006 Q4	16.2	9.7	3.1
2007 Q1	17.6	9.9	3.2
2007 Q2	16.8	9.5	3.3
2007 Q3	17.8	9.9	3.3
2007 Q4	18.0	10.4	3.1
2008 Q1	17.7	9.5	2.9
2008 Q2	18.1	9.8	2.8
2008 Q3	20.0	10.2	3.0
2008 Q4	22.2	12.7	3.5
2009 Q1	23.4	11.8	3.5
2009 Q2	27.7	14.2	3.8
2009 Q3	35.0	16.8	4.5
2009 Q4	38.7	21.9	5.8
2010 Q1	41.8	24.7	6.5
2010 Q2	45.1	30.9	9.5
2010 Q3	43.3	29.8	9.6
2010 Q4	43.2	31.0	10.7
2011 Q1	43.7	30.4	12.6
2011 Q2	44.1	31.9	14.3
2011 Q3	44.6	31.8	14.5
2011 Q4	42.8	31.4	15.1
2012 Q1	41.8	29.5	14.4
2012 Q2	41.9	30.1	14.7
2012 Q3	40.7	28.3	14.3
2012 Q4	39.9	29.2	14.7
2013 Q1	38.5	25.4	12.0
2013 Q2	37.3	26.5	12.9
2013 Q3	37.7	25.7	12.5
2013 Q4	36.9	26.2	12.8
2014 Q1	35.7	24.3	11.8
2014 Q2	34.1	23.6	12.2
2014 Q3	32.1	21.5	10.3
2014 Q4	31.6	22.6	11.1
2015 Q1	30.6	19.9	9.7
2015 Q2	27.8	19.5	9.8
2015 Q3	27.1	16.5	8.1
2015 Q4	26.2	18.5	8.9
Note: Data for 27 weeks or longer are seasonally adjusted. Data for 52 weeks or longer and 99 weeks or longer are not seasonally adjusted. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

The proportion of the unemployed who had been jobless for 27 weeks or longer—a population also described as long-term unemployed—declined in 2015, although it remained high by historical standards.^{^⁵} In the fourth quarter of 2015, there were about 2.1 million individuals who were long-term unemployed—742,000 fewer than in 2014. The long-term unemployed had reached a quarterly peak of 6.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, accounting for almost half of the unemployed at that time. The long-term unemployed’s share of the total has been declining since then, and in the fourth quarter of 2015 they made up about one-fourth of the total unemployed, down 5.4 percentage points over the year. (See figure 4 and table 4.)

Table 4. Unemployed people, by reason and duration of unemployment, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 2014–15 (levels in thousands)
Reason and duration	2014	2015				Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Reason and duration	Fourth quarter	First quarter	Second quarter	Third quarter	Fourth quarter	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Reason for unemployment
Job losers and people who completed temporary jobs	4,380	4,205	4,151	4,004	3,871	-509
On temporary layoff	967	983	1,013	953	938	-29
Not on temporary layoff	3,414	3,222	3,138	3,052	2,934	-480
Permanent job losers	2,433	2,264	2,187	2,165	2,090	-343
People who completed temporary jobs	980	958	950	886	843	-137
Job leavers	808	867	805	803	804	-4
Reentrants	2,764	2,711	2,573	2,409	2,454	-310
New entrants	1,022	929	920	835	839	-183
Percent distribution
Job losers and people who completed temporary jobs	48.8	48.3	49.1	49.7	48.6	-.2
On temporary layoff	10.8	11.3	12.0	11.8	11.8	1.0
Not on temporary layoff	38.0	37.0	37.1	37.9	36.8	-1.2
Job leavers	9.0	9.9	9.5	10.0	10.1	1.1
Reentrants	30.8	31.1	30.5	29.9	30.8	.0
New entrants	11.4	10.7	10.9	10.4	10.5	-.9
Duration of unemployment
Less than 5 weeks	2,448	2,437	2,484	2,317	2,385	-63
5 to 14 weeks	2,329	2,304	2,399	2,271	2,247	-82
15 weeks or longer	4,194	3,981	3,652	3,384	3,334	-860
15 to 26 weeks	1,363	1,314	1,278	1,221	1,244	-119
27 weeks or longer	2,832	2,666	2,374	2,163	2,090	-742
Average (mean) duration in weeks	32.7	31.3	29.7	27.6	27.8	-4.9
Median duration, in weeks	12.9	12.8	11.5	11.6	10.8	-2.1
Percent distribution
Less than 5 weeks	27.3	27.9	29.1	29.1	29.9	2.6
5 to 14 weeks	26.0	26.4	28.1	28.5	28.2	2.2
15 weeks or longer	46.8	45.6	42.8	42.4	41.9	-4.9
15 to 26 weeks	15.2	15.1	15.0	15.3	15.6	.4
27 weeks or longer	31.6	30.6	27.8	27.1	26.2	-5.4
Note: Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

The number of people unemployed for a year or longer—1.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, not seasonally adjusted—continued to decline in 2015. These individuals made up 18.5 percent of the total unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2015.^{^⁶} The number of people who were jobless for 99 weeks or longer (about 2 years)—671,000 in the fourth quarter of 2015, not seasonally adjusted—declined by 278,000 over the year. About 9 percent of unemployed people had been jobless for about 2 years or longer at the end of 2015; in contrast, the percentage prior to the most recent recession was about 3 percent.

The number of job losers, or those unemployed as a result of losing their jobs, also continued to decline in 2015. The number fell by 509,000, to 3.9 million by year’s end. Job losers are categorized into two groups: (1) people on temporary layoff who expect to be recalled to their jobs and (2) those not on temporary layoff. People in the latter group do not expect to be recalled; they are further categorized in the survey as either permanent job losers or people who have completed temporary jobs. In 2015, permanent job losers accounted for virtually all of the decline in the total number of job losers. (See table 4 and figure 5.)

Figure 5. Reasons for unemployment, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 1990–2015 (in thousands)
Year and quarter	Job losers	Job leavers	Reentrants	New entrants
1990 Q1	3,101	1,070	1,843	713
1990 Q2	3,173	1,027	1,859	660
1990 Q3	3,467	1,034	1,968	674
1990 Q4	3,864	1,031	2,062	704
1991 Q1	4,461	1,038	2,069	729
1991 Q2	4,667	1,006	2,169	789
1991 Q3	4,787	986	2,116	803
1991 Q4	4,893	988	2,214	845
1992 Q1	5,270	979	2,272	871
1992 Q2	5,552	1,003	2,235	953
1992 Q3	5,467	1,056	2,332	1,003
1992 Q4	5,275	975	2,304	927
1993 Q1	4,950	1,005	2,275	966
1993 Q2	4,954	973	2,248	950
1993 Q3	4,862	939	2,136	893
1993 Q4	4,590	989	2,130	872
1994 Q1	4,195	840	2,928	627
1994 Q2	3,717	804	2,939	603
1994 Q3	3,723	797	2,706	611
1994 Q4	3,535	721	2,574	582
1995 Q1	3,431	767	2,465	572
1995 Q2	3,494	855	2,597	584
1995 Q3	3,469	845	2,564	592
1995 Q4	3,519	833	2,485	573
1996 Q1	3,531	787	2,465	586
1996 Q2	3,506	705	2,564	571
1996 Q3	3,191	758	2,506	580
1996 Q4	3,211	846	2,524	583
1997 Q1	3,189	814	2,502	607
1997 Q2	3,050	795	2,380	570
1997 Q3	2,934	847	2,253	563
1997 Q4	2,941	714	2,212	534
1998 Q1	2,883	773	2,201	536
1998 Q2	2,770	699	2,081	528
1998 Q3	2,823	754	2,143	488
1998 Q4	2,811	708	2,105	523
1999 Q1	2,687	746	2,031	497
1999 Q2	2,663	807	2,010	440
1999 Q3	2,623	785	1,991	477
1999 Q4	2,495	799	1,989	468
2000 Q1	2,568	785	2,006	414
2000 Q2	2,400	766	2,005	433
2000 Q3	2,547	795	1,917	449
2000 Q4	2,531	771	1,907	437
2001 Q1	2,920	823	1,935	406
2001 Q2	3,185	794	1,884	464
2001 Q3	3,491	843	2,094	469
2001 Q4	4,420	880	2,240	497
2002 Q1	4,460	887	2,350	510
2002 Q2	4,638	906	2,392	524
2002 Q3	4,581	826	2,329	564
2002 Q4	4,739	851	2,399	535
2003 Q1	4,752	809	2,405	604
2003 Q2	4,964	823	2,588	642
2003 Q3	4,969	804	2,476	669
2003 Q4	4,669	837	2,415	641
2004 Q1	4,407	834	2,466	657
2004 Q2	4,210	864	2,454	673
2004 Q3	4,081	862	2,351	701
2004 Q4	4,051	875	2,339	712
2005 Q1	3,900	883	2,378	695
2005 Q2	3,630	899	2,376	708
2005 Q3	3,594	836	2,396	621
2005 Q4	3,512	871	2,383	648
2006 Q1	3,371	842	2,251	655
2006 Q2	3,449	848	2,157	585
2006 Q3	3,276	831	2,311	632
2006 Q4	3,214	784	2,221	583
2007 Q1	3,323	800	2,146	612
2007 Q2	3,366	773	2,143	596
2007 Q3	3,630	819	2,090	619
2007 Q4	3,753	777	2,195	684
2008 Q1	3,955	805	2,151	679
2008 Q2	4,236	858	2,381	736
2008 Q3	4,912	965	2,639	824
2008 Q4	6,196	949	2,714	795
2009 Q1	8,023	873	2,924	882
2009 Q2	9,303	864	3,213	956
2009 Q3	9,687	871	3,268	1,081
2009 Q4	9,758	921	3,339	1,224
2010 Q1	9,504	894	3,570	1,178
2010 Q2	9,230	930	3,486	1,188
2010 Q3	9,089	859	3,383	1,235
2010 Q4	9,069	878	3,435	1,286
2011 Q1	8,389	897	3,341	1,306
2011 Q2	8,238	945	3,436	1,258
2011 Q3	8,050	964	3,458	1,304
2011 Q4	7,699	1,016	3,362	1,282
2012 Q1	7,140	1,022	3,311	1,337
2012 Q2	6,975	941	3,347	1,355
2012 Q3	6,843	921	3,333	1,274
2012 Q4	6,505	988	3,398	1,307
2013 Q1	6,458	972	3,330	1,278
2013 Q2	6,172	945	3,270	1,277
2013 Q3	5,880	941	3,176	1,247
2013 Q4	5,795	869	3,040	1,186
2014 Q1	5,410	805	2,957	1,185
2014 Q2	4,961	838	2,732	1,065
2014 Q3	4,713	844	2,857	1,079
2014 Q4	4,380	808	2,764	1,022
2015 Q1	4,205	867	2,711	929
2015 Q2	4,151	805	2,573	920
2015 Q3	4,004	803	2,409	835
2015 Q4	3,871	804	2,454	839
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

In the CPS, people who had previously worked but were not in the labor force prior to starting their current job search are classified as unemployed reentrants. There were 2.5 million unemployed reentrants in the fourth quarter of 2015, down by 310,000 over the year, the third year in a row this series showed a decline. The number of new entrants—that is, jobseekers who have never worked before—also declined in 2015 for the third consecutive year, this time by 183,000. The number of job leavers (unemployed people who voluntarily left their job), 804,000 in the fourth quarter, held fairly steady in 2015.

Labor force status flows

Labor force status flows measure the underlying movements between the monthly point-in-time numbers of people employed, unemployed, and not in the labor force. Each month, millions of people move between employment and unemployment while millions of others leave or enter the labor force.^{^⁷} In 2015, 16.8 million people, or 6.7 percent of the population ages 16 and older, changed their labor force status in an average month; the 6.7-percent figure was the same as the percentage of the population that changed their labor force status in an average month prior to the last recession. The series peak was 7.5 percent of the population, in 2010.

Figure 6. Percentage of the unemployed who found employment, remained unemployed, or left the labor force, 3-month moving average, seasonally adjusted, April 1990–December 2015
Month and year	Found employment	Left the labor force	Remained unemployed
April 1990	29.6	21.1	49.3
May 1990	28.4	20.8	50.7
June 1990	28.2	20.4	51.4
July 1990	28.3	20.4	51.3
August 1990	28.2	20.4	51.4
September 1990	26.7	19.9	53.4
October 1990	26.7	19.3	54.0
November 1990	26.2	19.3	54.5
December 1990	26.4	19.3	54.3
January 1991	25.7	19.6	54.7
February 1991	25.4	19.4	55.1
March 1991	25.4	19.1	55.5
April 1991	26.0	18.2	55.7
May 1991	25.3	18.3	56.4
June 1991	25.3	18.3	56.4
July 1991	24.1	18.9	57.0
August 1991	24.6	18.8	56.6
September 1991	24.9	18.7	56.4
October 1991	25.0	18.8	56.2
November 1991	24.7	18.5	56.8
December 1991	23.3	18.7	58.0
January 1992	24.0	18.1	57.8
February 1992	23.4	17.6	59.0
March 1992	23.6	17.1	59.3
April 1992	22.5	17.4	60.1
May 1992	22.8	17.6	59.6
June 1992	22.9	17.5	59.6
July 1992	22.9	17.5	59.6
August 1992	22.6	17.5	59.8
September 1992	22.7	18.1	59.2
October 1992	22.8	18.5	58.8
November 1992	23.3	18.4	58.3
December 1992	23.5	18.5	57.9
January 1993	23.4	18.1	58.4
February 1993	23.0	19.0	58.0
March 1993	23.0	19.0	58.0
April 1993	23.3	19.0	57.7
May 1993	23.9	18.0	58.1
June 1993	23.7	17.4	58.9
July 1993	24.0	17.7	58.3
August 1993	23.8	18.4	57.8
September 1993	23.8	19.1	57.1
October 1993	23.7	19.1	57.3
November 1993	24.0	19.2	56.8
December 1993	25.0	19.2	55.8
January 1994	25.4	19.5	55.0
February 1994	25.7	20.0	54.3
March 1994	25.6	20.8	53.5
April 1994	25.7	21.8	52.5
May 1994	26.2	22.5	51.3
June 1994	26.2	23.3	50.4
July 1994	26.6	23.5	49.8
August 1994	26.9	23.4	49.7
September 1994	27.4	22.6	50.0
October 1994	27.1	22.3	50.6
November 1994	27.0	22.8	50.2
December 1994	28.0	23.1	48.9
January 1995	28.8	23.4	47.7
February 1995	29.0	23.1	47.8
March 1995	28.4	22.7	48.9
April 1995	28.3	22.1	49.6
May 1995	27.7	22.5	49.8
June 1995	27.5	22.8	49.7
July 1995	27.4	23.1	49.5
August 1995	28.2	22.6	49.2
September 1995	28.1	22.9	49.0
October 1995	28.5	23.5	48.0
November 1995	27.8	23.7	48.5
December 1995	27.1	23.5	49.4
January 1996	26.6	23.0	50.4
February 1996	26.8	23.1	50.1
March 1996	27.4	23.1	49.5
April 1996	27.3	23.0	49.7
May 1996	27.1	23.1	49.8
June 1996	27.1	23.6	49.3
July 1996	27.5	23.7	48.8
August 1996	28.2	23.4	48.4
September 1996	28.6	23.0	48.3
October 1996	28.9	22.5	48.5
November 1996	28.5	22.6	48.9
December 1996	27.8	22.0	50.1
January 1997	28.2	22.6	49.2
February 1997	28.6	22.4	49.0
March 1997	29.4	22.4	48.2
April 1997	28.7	22.7	48.6
May 1997	29.0	22.9	48.1
June 1997	29.3	23.3	47.4
July 1997	30.2	23.0	46.8
August 1997	29.3	23.6	47.0
September 1997	28.6	23.7	47.7
October 1997	28.1	24.1	47.8
November 1997	28.9	23.5	47.6
December 1997	30.1	23.6	46.3
January 1998	30.1	23.6	46.3
February 1998	30.5	24.2	45.2
March 1998	29.9	24.8	45.3
April 1998	30.8	25.0	44.1
May 1998	30.5	24.6	44.8
June 1998	31.0	23.6	45.4
July 1998	30.4	23.3	46.3
August 1998	30.9	23.0	46.1
September 1998	30.9	23.5	45.6
October 1998	31.0	23.6	45.4
November 1998	30.9	24.3	44.8
December 1998	30.7	25.1	44.2
January 1999	30.9	25.3	43.8
February 1999	31.0	24.9	44.0
March 1999	31.9	24.3	43.8
April 1999	31.2	24.3	44.4
May 1999	31.1	24.8	44.1
June 1999	30.4	24.4	45.2
July 1999	31.2	23.7	45.1
August 1999	31.6	23.0	45.4
September 1999	31.8	22.8	45.4
October 1999	31.7	23.4	44.8
November 1999	32.5	23.7	43.8
December 1999	33.1	24.5	42.4
January 2000	34.7	23.7	41.6
February 2000	33.6	23.7	42.7
March 2000	33.0	23.8	43.2
April 2000	32.5	24.5	43.0
May 2000	32.2	24.8	43.0
June 2000	32.1	25.1	42.7
July 2000	32.0	24.6	43.4
August 2000	32.5	24.5	43.0
September 2000	32.4	24.4	43.2
October 2000	32.5	24.3	43.2
November 2000	32.1	23.6	44.2
December 2000	31.5	22.7	45.8
January 2001	30.9	22.6	46.5
February 2001	30.7	23.1	46.2
March 2001	31.0	23.5	45.4
April 2001	30.6	24.4	45.0
May 2001	31.3	24.2	44.5
June 2001	31.1	23.8	45.0
July 2001	31.1	22.9	45.9
August 2001	30.0	22.5	47.5
September 2001	29.4	22.2	48.4
October 2001	28.4	22.0	49.6
November 2001	27.9	21.6	50.5
December 2001	27.0	21.3	51.7
January 2002	26.5	21.3	52.2
February 2002	26.8	20.8	52.4
March 2002	26.9	20.5	52.5
April 2002	26.8	19.9	53.3
May 2002	25.5	20.4	54.1
June 2002	24.6	20.8	54.7
July 2002	24.2	22.0	53.8
August 2002	24.6	21.7	53.6
September 2002	25.4	21.5	53.0
October 2002	25.7	20.9	53.4
November 2002	24.8	21.4	53.8
December 2002	23.8	21.4	54.7
January 2003	24.0	21.9	54.1
February 2003	23.8	21.7	54.5
March 2003	23.8	22.5	53.7
April 2003	23.5	21.7	54.7
May 2003	23.5	21.8	54.6
June 2003	23.7	20.9	55.4
July 2003	23.2	21.2	55.6
August 2003	23.4	21.5	55.1
September 2003	23.2	21.8	54.9
October 2003	23.3	22.1	54.6
November 2003	23.5	21.7	54.8
December 2003	24.5	21.9	53.6
January 2004	25.1	21.1	53.8
February 2004	24.9	21.8	53.2
March 2004	24.0	22.0	53.9
April 2004	24.2	22.8	53.0
May 2004	24.8	22.2	53.0
June 2004	25.2	21.9	52.9
July 2004	25.4	21.9	52.6
August 2004	25.1	22.8	52.1
September 2004	25.7	23.4	50.9
October 2004	26.1	23.3	50.7
November 2004	26.8	22.5	50.6
December 2004	26.6	22.2	51.1
January 2005	26.2	22.2	51.6
February 2005	26.1	21.9	52.0
March 2005	26.0	22.1	51.9
April 2005	26.3	22.2	51.5
May 2005	26.1	22.9	51.0
June 2005	26.1	23.0	50.8
July 2005	25.8	23.7	50.5
August 2005	26.8	23.7	49.5
September 2005	26.6	23.9	49.6
October 2005	26.6	23.8	49.6
November 2005	26.2	23.8	50.0
December 2005	26.5	24.5	49.0
January 2006	27.1	24.7	48.1
February 2006	26.6	25.0	48.4
March 2006	27.0	24.2	48.7
April 2006	27.0	24.2	48.8
May 2006	27.7	24.4	47.8
June 2006	28.3	24.6	47.0
July 2006	28.6	24.6	46.8
August 2006	28.9	24.5	46.6
September 2006	29.0	24.1	46.8
October 2006	28.6	24.4	46.9
November 2006	28.5	23.8	47.7
December 2006	28.8	23.6	47.6
January 2007	29.2	22.7	48.0
February 2007	29.6	23.5	46.8
March 2007	29.6	23.6	46.8
April 2007	29.2	23.5	47.3
May 2007	28.9	22.9	48.2
June 2007	27.4	22.9	49.6
July 2007	27.4	23.0	49.6
August 2007	26.9	22.8	50.2
September 2007	27.3	22.6	50.1
October 2007	27.1	22.6	50.3
November 2007	26.9	23.0	50.1
December 2007	26.9	22.3	50.8
January 2008	26.9	21.5	51.5
February 2008	26.4	21.9	51.6
March 2008	26.3	22.6	51.0
April 2008	26.4	23.9	49.7
May 2008	26.2	23.0	50.8
June 2008	25.3	22.6	52.1
July 2008	24.3	21.2	54.5
August 2008	23.8	21.1	55.1
September 2008	23.9	21.3	54.8
October 2008	23.4	21.6	55.0
November 2008	22.5	21.3	56.2
December 2008	21.0	21.0	58.0
January 2009	20.1	20.6	59.2
February 2009	19.5	20.0	60.4
March 2009	18.6	19.4	61.9
April 2009	18.2	18.8	62.9
May 2009	17.3	18.7	64.0
June 2009	17.6	18.2	64.2
July 2009	17.3	18.4	64.3
August 2009	17.3	18.7	63.9
September 2009	17.1	18.8	64.0
October 2009	16.4	18.7	64.9
November 2009	16.6	18.2	65.2
December 2009	15.9	18.6	65.4
January 2010	16.3	18.7	64.9
February 2010	16.2	18.9	64.9
March 2010	16.8	18.7	64.4
April 2010	17.3	18.5	64.2
May 2010	17.6	18.9	63.5
June 2010	17.2	19.5	63.3
July 2010	16.9	20.0	63.0
August 2010	16.7	20.0	63.2
September 2010	16.8	19.9	63.3
October 2010	16.6	19.9	63.5
November 2010	16.6	19.7	63.7
December 2010	17.0	19.9	63.0
January 2011	16.9	20.3	62.4
February 2011	16.7	20.8	62.1
March 2011	16.7	20.6	62.4
April 2011	16.7	20.5	62.8
May 2011	16.8	20.4	62.8
June 2011	16.9	20.5	62.6
July 2011	17.1	20.6	62.3
August 2011	17.2	20.4	62.4
September 2011	17.2	20.8	62.0
October 2011	17.5	20.2	62.3
November 2011	17.9	20.3	61.8
December 2011	18.3	19.9	61.8
January 2012	18.5	20.7	60.8
February 2012	18.4	21.0	60.6
March 2012	18.3	21.3	60.4
April 2012	18.1	21.1	60.8
May 2012	18.0	21.2	60.8
June 2012	17.8	21.2	61.0
July 2012	17.8	21.2	60.9
August 2012	17.8	21.6	60.5
September 2012	18.2	22.1	59.6
October 2012	18.7	22.6	58.7
November 2012	18.9	22.8	58.4
December 2012	18.5	22.7	58.8
January 2013	18.1	22.1	59.7
February 2013	18.3	21.8	59.8
March 2013	18.4	21.9	59.7
April 2013	18.5	21.9	59.6
May 2013	18.7	21.5	59.8
June 2013	19.3	21.0	59.8
July 2013	19.7	21.4	58.9
August 2013	19.6	21.9	58.4
September 2013	19.3	22.2	58.5
October 2013	18.7	22.9	58.5
November 2013	18.8	22.4	58.8
December 2013	19.3	23.0	57.7
January 2014	20.3	22.8	56.9
February 2014	21.1	22.6	56.3
March 2014	21.7	22.0	56.2
April 2014	21.8	22.3	55.8
May 2014	21.5	23.3	55.2
June 2014	21.5	24.0	54.5
July 2014	21.4	23.6	55.0
August 2014	21.8	23.5	54.7
September 2014	22.0	23.2	54.8
October 2014	23.0	23.3	53.7
November 2014	23.2	23.6	53.2
December 2014	23.4	24.3	52.3
January 2015	22.7	24.3	53.0
February 2015	22.7	24.6	52.7
March 2015	22.6	24.8	52.6
April 2015	23.1	25.2	51.6
May 2015	23.4	24.6	52.0
June 2015	23.8	24.4	51.8
July 2015	23.4	24.6	52.0
August 2015	24.0	24.9	51.1
September 2015	24.1	25.0	50.9
October 2015	24.8	24.6	50.6
November 2015	24.9	24.0	51.1
December 2015	25.3	23.4	51.3
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

To get a better understanding of the unemployment level in 2015, one can examine flow data by the current employment status (employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force) of people who were unemployed in the previous month. Figure 6 shows the proportions of the unemployed who found employment, remained unemployed, or left the labor force over the month, all calculated as a 3-month moving average. The likelihood of an unemployed person becoming employed increased over the year, to 25.3 percent in December 2015; prior to the onset of the last recession, the rate was 26.9 percent. By the end of 2015, the rate of unemployed people becoming employed exceeded the rate of people leaving the labor force. The share of the unemployed leaving the labor force, 23.4 percent in December 2015, was close to its prerecession rate of 23.0 percent in November 2007. (See figure 6.)

In December 2015, the share of those who remained unemployed from one month to the next was 51.3 percent, down 1.0 percentage point over the year. The share of the unemployed remaining unemployed from one month to the next was close to its prerecession percentage of 50.1 percent in November 2007.

Employment

Employment grew at a slower pace in 2015 than in 2014. As measured by the CPS, the number of employed people grew by 2.1 million over the year, reaching 149.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. Unlike the pattern in 2014, overall employment growth was slightly more concentrated among adult women than adult men in 2015. The number of employed adult women rose by 1.1 million, to 67.8 million; the number of employed adult men rose by 975,000, to 76.9 million. The number of employed teenagers 16 to 19 years of age was 4.8 million at year’s end, virtually unchanged from a year earlier. (See table 1.)

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Blacks saw their employment rise by 698,000 over the year, to 17.7 million by year’s end. The 698,000 figure accounted for about one-third of overall employment growth in 2015. This year was the second year in a row in which Blacks experienced a disproportionately large share of employment growth. The number of employed Whites increased by 823,000 during the year, to 118.1 million, and Asian employment rose by 358,000, to 8.7 million. At 24.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, Hispanic employment grew by 588,000 over the year; the figure posted was less than half their employment gain in 2014.

Figure 7. Labor force participation rate and employment–population ratio, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 2000–15
Year and quarter	Labor force participation rate	Employment–population ratio
2000 Q1	67.3	64.6
2000 Q2	67.2	64.5
2000 Q3	66.9	64.2
2000 Q4	66.9	64.3
2001 Q1	67.2	64.3
2001 Q2	66.8	63.8
2001 Q3	66.7	63.5
2001 Q4	66.7	63.0
2002 Q1	66.6	62.8
2002 Q2	66.7	62.8
2002 Q3	66.6	62.8
2002 Q4	66.4	62.5
2003 Q1	66.3	62.4
2003 Q2	66.4	62.4
2003 Q3	66.1	62.1
2003 Q4	66.1	62.2
2004 Q1	66.0	62.3
2004 Q2	66.0	62.3
2004 Q3	66.0	62.4
2004 Q4	66.0	62.4
2005 Q1	65.9	62.4
2005 Q2	66.1	62.7
2005 Q3	66.1	62.8
2005 Q4	66.0	62.8
2006 Q1	66.1	63.0
2006 Q2	66.1	63.1
2006 Q3	66.1	63.1
2006 Q4	66.3	63.3
2007 Q1	66.3	63.3
2007 Q2	66.0	63.0
2007 Q3	65.9	62.8
2007 Q4	66.0	62.8
2008 Q1	66.1	62.8
2008 Q2	66.0	62.5
2008 Q3	66.0	62.1
2008 Q4	65.9	61.4
2009 Q1	65.7	60.2
2009 Q2	65.7	59.6
2009 Q3	65.3	59.0
2009 Q4	64.9	58.4
2010 Q1	64.9	58.5
2010 Q2	64.9	58.6
2010 Q3	64.6	58.5
2010 Q4	64.4	58.3
2011 Q1	64.2	58.4
2011 Q2	64.1	58.3
2011 Q3	64.1	58.3
2011 Q4	64.0	58.5
2012 Q1	63.8	58.5
2012 Q2	63.7	58.5
2012 Q3	63.6	58.5
2012 Q4	63.7	58.7
2013 Q1	63.5	58.6
2013 Q2	63.4	58.6
2013 Q3	63.2	58.7
2013 Q4	62.9	58.5
2014 Q1	63.0	58.8
2014 Q2	62.8	58.9
2014 Q3	62.9	59.0
2014 Q4	62.8	59.2
2015 Q1	62.8	59.3
2015 Q2	62.7	59.4
2015 Q3	62.5	59.3
2015 Q4	62.5	59.4
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

In the CPS, the employment–population ratio represents the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population that is employed. The employment–population ratio for all people ages 16 and older stood at 59.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 and was little changed over the year (up 0.2 percentage point). The ratio had increased by 0.7 percentage point in 2014. (See figure 7.) The employment–population ratios for adult men (68.0 percent), adult women (55.6 percent), and teenagers (28.8 percent) showed little or no change over the year. (See table 1.)

Whereas employment–population ratios had increased for nearly all race and ethnicity groups in 2014, only Blacks saw a noteworthy increase in their employment–population ratio in 2015 (up 1.3 percentage points, to 56.1 percent). The increase reflected a strong growth in Black employment. In 2015, the employment–population ratio for Whites, 59.9 percent, was unchanged; the ratios for Asians, 60.3 percent, and Hispanics, 61.4 percent, showed little change over the year.

The number of workers holding more than one job edged up by 130,000 in 2015, to 7.5 million; the gain in the previous year was a more robust 555,000. In the fourth quarter of 2015, multiple jobholders accounted for 5.0 percent of the total employed, about the same as in 2014. The percentage of multiple jobholders in the labor force has ranged between 4.7 percent and 5.1 percent in the past 4 years. Before the recession, the rate was a slightly higher 5.3 percent.

The total number of self-employed workers, including both those whose businesses were incorporated and those whose businesses were not, edged down by 164,000 in 2015. In the fourth quarter, 15.0 million workers (not seasonally adjusted) were self-employed. The self-employment rate—the proportion of total employment made up of the self-employed—edged down from the previous year, to 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015. Of all self-employed people, about two-thirds had unincorporated businesses.

The number of people employed part time for economic reasons—that is, they wanted full-time work but could find only a part-time job or they had their hours reduced to part time—continued to decline in 2015, dropping by 942,000, to 6.0 million. Also referred to as those employed part time involuntarily, these individuals saw their numbers rise sharply during the 2007–09 recession (reaching a peak of 9.1 million in 2009); since then, however, their number has been trending downward.^{^⁸} Still, even with the decline in 2015, the number of people employed part time for economic reasons remained relatively high by historical standards. Slack work or unfavorable business conditions, rather than an inability to find full-time work, remained the primary reason for involuntary part-time employment in 2015, accounting for more than half of all people employed part time for economic reasons. (See figure 8.)

Figure 8. Number of people employed part time for economic reasons, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 1969–2015 (in thousands)
Year and quarter	Total working part time for economic reasons	Working part time because of slack work	Could find only part-time work
1969 Q1	1,970	963	686
1969 Q2	2,001	989	676
1969 Q3	2,112	1,048	728
1969 Q4	2,124	1,074	668
1970 Q1	2,201	1,187	689
1970 Q2	2,490	1,295	785
1970 Q3	2,452	1,302	815
1970 Q4	2,651	1,423	908
1971 Q1	2,745	1,472	916
1971 Q2	2,652	1,391	929
1971 Q3	2,671	1,366	981
1971 Q4	2,717	1,402	999
1972 Q1	2,630	1,307	996
1972 Q2	2,699	1,303	1,064
1972 Q3	2,769	1,279	1,093
1972 Q4	2,445	1,098	1,006
1973 Q1	2,311	1,084	922
1973 Q2	2,491	1,160	938
1973 Q3	2,652	1,289	937
1973 Q4	2,729	1,348	951
1974 Q1	2,810	1,383	975
1974 Q2	2,762	1,319	1,069
1974 Q3	2,999	1,492	1,105
1974 Q4	3,418	1,883	1,146
1975 Q1	4,071	2,397	1,281
1975 Q2	3,975	2,280	1,359
1975 Q3	3,628	1,902	1,387
1975 Q4	3,566	1,846	1,398
1976 Q1	3,606	1,780	1,455
1976 Q2	3,516	1,719	1,411
1976 Q3	3,570	1,699	1,484
1976 Q4	3,759	1,822	1,618
1977 Q1	3,686	1,678	1,637
1977 Q2	3,537	1,628	1,509
1977 Q3	3,635	1,681	1,556
1977 Q4	3,552	1,585	1,590
1978 Q1	3,451	1,527	1,539
1978 Q2	3,597	1,541	1,605
1978 Q3	3,577	1,609	1,515
1978 Q4	3,416	1,512	1,496
1979 Q1	3,477	1,561	1,523
1979 Q2	3,589	1,617	1,509
1979 Q3	3,559	1,645	1,460
1979 Q4	3,670	1,802	1,449
1980 Q1	3,744	1,887	1,448
1980 Q2	4,472	2,521	1,585
1980 Q3	4,550	2,451	1,757
1980 Q4	4,484	2,306	1,801
1981 Q1	4,531	2,328	1,847
1981 Q2	4,463	2,302	1,846
1981 Q3	4,749	2,352	2,002
1981 Q4	5,357	2,792	2,184
1982 Q1	5,581	2,907	2,348
1982 Q2	6,053	3,324	2,448
1982 Q3	6,337	3,383	2,684
1982 Q4	6,739	3,484	2,916
1983 Q1	6,584	3,155	3,098
1983 Q2	6,256	2,836	3,114
1983 Q3	6,209	2,746	3,072
1983 Q4	6,011	2,556	3,149
1984 Q1	5,834	2,457	3,070
1984 Q2	5,737	2,315	3,044
1984 Q3	5,687	2,393	2,872
1984 Q4	5,711	2,545	2,838
1985 Q1	5,540	2,422	2,787
1985 Q2	5,692	2,573	2,777
1985 Q3	5,645	2,443	2,837
1985 Q4	5,488	2,300	2,879
1986 Q1	5,451	2,333	2,824
1986 Q2	5,787	2,573	2,862
1986 Q3	5,517	2,455	2,737
1986 Q4	5,631	2,486	2,799
1987 Q1	5,496	2,424	2,723
1987 Q2	5,326	2,334	2,660
1987 Q3	5,379	2,389	2,650
1987 Q4	5,420	2,391	2,671
1988 Q1	5,297	2,394	2,566
1988 Q2	5,116	2,284	2,462
1988 Q3	5,268	2,360	2,502
1988 Q4	5,136	2,363	2,401
1989 Q1	4,943	2,268	2,317
1989 Q2	4,971	2,319	2,342
1989 Q3	4,879	2,325	2,170
1989 Q4	4,787	2,325	2,109
1990 Q1	4,840	2,373	2,167
1990 Q2	5,098	2,476	2,244
1990 Q3	5,335	2,658	2,295
1990 Q4	5,555	2,865	2,343
1991 Q1	5,833	3,157	2,363
1991 Q2	6,140	3,246	2,551
1991 Q3	6,256	3,268	2,685
1991 Q4	6,445	3,366	2,753
1992 Q1	6,558	3,305	2,973
1992 Q2	6,501	3,296	2,840
1992 Q3	6,468	3,295	2,902
1992 Q4	6,554	3,244	3,034
1993 Q1	6,380	3,157	2,944
1993 Q2	6,588	3,268	2,936
1993 Q3	6,652	3,223	3,106
1993 Q4	6,306	3,163	2,918
1994 Q1	4,838	2,461	2,070
1994 Q2	4,801	2,463	1,983
1994 Q3	4,399	2,401	1,691
1994 Q4	4,460	2,409	1,754
1995 Q1	4,466	2,400	1,775
1995 Q2	4,477	2,430	1,730
1995 Q3	4,510	2,524	1,681
1995 Q4	4,462	2,556	1,618
1996 Q1	4,290	2,417	1,566
1996 Q2	4,368	2,375	1,636
1996 Q3	4,377	2,501	1,581
1996 Q4	4,254	2,267	1,651
1997 Q1	4,181	2,354	1,513
1997 Q2	4,142	2,347	1,466
1997 Q3	4,031	2,201	1,506
1997 Q4	3,928	2,235	1,392
1998 Q1	3,882	2,177	1,392
1998 Q2	3,756	2,137	1,288
1998 Q3	3,594	2,092	1,199
1998 Q4	3,397	1,951	1,148
1999 Q1	3,475	2,025	1,140
1999 Q2	3,416	1,995	1,090
1999 Q3	3,305	1,930	1,076
1999 Q4	3,220	1,909	1,007
2000 Q1	3,202	1,883	1,001
2000 Q2	3,226	1,920	1,000
2000 Q3	3,191	2,003	886
2000 Q4	3,296	2,030	906
2001 Q1	3,303	2,044	925
2001 Q2	3,507	2,256	961
2001 Q3	3,723	2,405	1,006
2001 Q4	4,382	2,925	1,138
2002 Q1	4,167	2,737	1,087
2002 Q2	4,117	2,714	1,110
2002 Q3	4,258	2,822	1,146
2002 Q4	4,321	2,872	1,158
2003 Q1	4,701	3,097	1,241
2003 Q2	4,653	3,146	1,255
2003 Q3	4,650	3,098	1,274
2003 Q4	4,808	3,123	1,345
2004 Q1	4,666	2,949	1,417
2004 Q2	4,533	2,811	1,428
2004 Q3	4,470	2,744	1,380
2004 Q4	4,598	2,849	1,404
2005 Q1	4,343	2,681	1,357
2005 Q2	4,342	2,651	1,373
2005 Q3	4,522	2,810	1,373
2005 Q4	4,201	2,604	1,254
2006 Q1	4,090	2,597	1,205
2006 Q2	4,110	2,610	1,162
2006 Q3	4,204	2,679	1,188
2006 Q4	4,243	2,753	1,200
2007 Q1	4,251	2,753	1,193
2007 Q2	4,376	2,859	1,220
2007 Q3	4,502	2,921	1,207
2007 Q4	4,479	2,980	1,220
2008 Q1	4,884	3,315	1,223
2008 Q2	5,349	3,709	1,324
2008 Q3	5,976	4,261	1,454
2008 Q4	7,343	5,422	1,559
2009 Q1	8,662	6,531	1,762
2009 Q2	9,015	6,788	1,937
2009 Q3	8,923	6,719	1,997
2009 Q4	9,064	6,561	2,155
2010 Q1	8,899	6,226	2,311
2010 Q2	8,866	6,200	2,348
2010 Q3	8,849	6,262	2,335
2010 Q4	8,881	5,990	2,477
2011 Q1	8,526	5,770	2,443
2011 Q2	8,552	5,777	2,477
2011 Q3	8,745	5,723	2,668
2011 Q4	8,425	5,559	2,454
2012 Q1	8,091	5,361	2,453
2012 Q2	8,037	5,240	2,515
2012 Q3	8,253	5,350	2,549
2012 Q4	8,101	5,056	2,644
2013 Q1	7,934	5,095	2,584
2013 Q2	7,976	5,021	2,610
2013 Q3	7,979	4,970	2,624
2013 Q4	7,833	4,909	2,590
2014 Q1	7,303	4,401	2,654
2014 Q2	7,381	4,462	2,576
2014 Q3	7,259	4,332	2,551
2014 Q4	6,898	4,111	2,433
2015 Q1	6,696	3,974	2,381
2015 Q2	6,538	3,878	2,308
2015 Q3	6,272	3,727	2,188
2015 Q4	5,956	3,458	2,194
Note: Beginning in 1994, data are affected by the redesign of the Current Population Survey and are not strictly comparable with data for previous years. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

Employment rose substantially in just 1 out of 5 major occupation groups in 2015. Employment in management, professional, and related occupations grew by a total of 1.8 million, to 58.7 million, over the year, accounting for the bulk of the increase in overall CPS employment in 2015. Within this major occupation group, which accounts for nearly 40 percent of all workers, employment in management, business, and financial operations expanded by 1.1 million over the year and the number of workers in professional and related occupations grew by 709,000. Employment was little changed in the other four major occupation groups: service occupations; sales and office occupations; natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations; and production, transportation, and material moving occupations. (See table 5.)

Table 5. Employment, by occupation group and gender, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, 2014–15 (in thousands)
Occupation group	Total			Men			Women
Occupation group	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Total, 16 years and older	147,597	149,728	2,131	78,318	79,293	975	69,279	70,435	1,156
Management, professional, and related occupations	56,919	58,718	1,799	27,374	28,200	826	29,545	30,517	972
Management, business, and financial operations occupations	23,254	24,344	1,090	12,985	13,632	647	10,269	10,712	443
Professional and related occupations	33,665	34,374	709	14,389	14,568	179	19,276	19,806	530
Service occupations	26,007	25,849	-158	11,263	11,301	38	14,744	14,548	-196
Health care support occupations	3,395	3,464	69	449	426	-23	2,947	3,039	92
Protective service occupations	2,980	3,130	150	2,339	2,499	160	641	631	-10
Food preparation and serving related occupations	8,225	8,177	-48	3,706	3,760	54	4,519	4,417	-102
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	5,982	5,885	-97	3,554	3,461	-93	2,427	2,424	-3
Personal care and service occupations	5,425	5,193	-232	1,215	1,155	-60	4,210	4,038	-172
Sales and office occupations	33,283	33,592	309	12,818	12,736	-82	20,466	20,856	390
Sales and related occupations	15,669	15,572	-97	7,981	7,823	-158	7,688	7,749	61
Office and administrative support occupations	17,614	18,020	406	4,836	4,913	77	12,778	13,106	328
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations	13,604	13,872	268	13,014	13,189	175	591	684	93
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	988	1,055	67	781	812	31	207	242	35
Construction and extraction occupations	7,701	7,756	55	7,498	7,526	28	202	230	28
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	4,916	5,062	146	4,734	4,850	116	181	212	31
Production, transportation, and material moving occupations	17,783	17,697	-86	13,850	13,867	17	3,934	3,830	-104
Production occupations	8,606	8,358	-248	6,162	5,966	-196	2,444	2,392	-52
Transportation and material moving occupations	9,177	9,340	163	7,688	7,901	213	1,489	1,438	-51
Note: Data may not sum to totals because of rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

Labor force participation

The civilian labor force increased by 1.1 million, to 157.4 million, in 2015, and the labor force participation rate—the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and older that is in the labor force—declined by 0.3 percentage point, to 62.5 percent. The labor force participation rate has been trending downward and is generally projected to continue on that path for some time in the future.^{^⁹} (See table 1 and figure 7.)

By the end of 2015, the labor force participation rate had declined for two major race and ethnicity groups: the participation rate for Whites had declined by 0.3 percentage point, to 62.6 percent, and the rate for Hispanics had declined by 0.7 percentage point, to 65.6 percent. The rate for Blacks, 61.6 percent, and the participation rate for Asians, at 62.7 percent, changed little in 2015.

People not in the labor force

People who are neither employed nor unemployed are considered “not in the labor force.” In the fourth quarter of 2015, the number of people not in the labor force increased by 1.7 million, to 94.4 million (not seasonally adjusted). All of the increase occurred among people who indicated in the survey that they did not want a job. On net, the number of people not in the labor force who indicated in the survey that they did want a job fell by 609,000, to 5.6 million, in 2015, after increasing by 503,000 in 2014.^{^¹⁰} (See table 6.) The remaining share of people not in the labor force, 88.9 million (or 94.1 percent) in 2015, was made up of people who did not want a job.^{^¹¹}

Table 6. Number of people not in the labor force, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, 2011–15 (in thousands)
Category	Fourth quarter 2011	Fourth quarter 2012	Fourth quarter 2013	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Total not in the labor force	86,717	88,957	91,774	92,698	94,442	1,744
People who do not currently want a job ^⁽¹⁾	80,621	82,567	86,090	86,511	88,864	2,353
People who currently want a job	6,096	6,390	5,684	6,187	5,578	-609
People marginally attached to the labor force ^⁽²⁾	2,562	2,517	2,269	2,187	1,822	-365
Discouraged workers ^⁽³⁾	1,002	953	831	736	641	-95
Other people marginally attached to the labor force ^⁽⁴⁾	1,559	1,564	1,438	1,451	1,181	-270
Notes: ^⁽¹⁾ Includes some people who are not asked if they want a job. ^⁽²⁾ Data refer to people who want a job, have searched for work during the previous 12 months, and were available to take a job during the reference week but had not looked for work in the past 4 weeks. ^⁽³⁾ Includes those who did not actively look for work in the previous 4 weeks for reasons such as they thought that no work was available, they could not find work, they felt that they lacked schooling or training, they believed that their employer thought that they were too young or too old, and they thought that they might have been the recipient of other types of discrimination. ^⁽⁴⁾ Includes those who did not actively look for work in the previous 4 weeks for reasons such as school or family responsibilities, ill health, and transportation problems, as well as a number for whom the reason for their nonparticipation was not determined. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

Among people not in the labor force who currently want a job, the number defined as marginally attached to the labor force, 1.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 (not seasonally adjusted), fell by 365,000. This decline was more than 4 times larger than the previous year’s decline. These individuals wanted a job, had searched for work sometime in the previous year, and were available to work had a job been offered to them. Still, they are not counted as unemployed, because they had not actively searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, individuals currently not looking for work specifically because they felt that no jobs were available for them are defined as “discouraged workers.” By the fourth quarter of 2015, the number of discouraged workers had declined by 95,000, to 641,000.

The remaining 1.2 million people who were marginally attached to the labor force in 2015 had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance, family responsibilities, health-related issues, and transportation problems. Those whose reason for nonparticipation was not identified in the survey also are included in the remaining 1.2 million people who are marginally attached. The number of these individuals declined by 270,000 in 2015.

Alternative measures of labor underutilization

BLS has defined several measures of labor underutilization. Known as U–1, U–2, and U–4 through U–6 (U–3 is the official unemployment rate), these metrics are used to gain insight into the degree to which labor resources are being underutilized, besides that obtained from U–3.^{^¹²} Like the official unemployment rate, the alternative measures are presented as a percentage of the labor force (adjusted as necessary). Alternative measures U–1 and U–2 are narrower than the official unemployment measure: U–1 denotes the number of individuals unemployed 15 weeks or longer as a percentage of the labor force, while U–2 designates job losers and people who completed temporary jobs as a percentage of the labor force. U–4 through U–6 are broader than the official unemployment measure: to the unemployed, U–4 adds discouraged workers; U–5 adds all people marginally attached to the labor force (including discouraged workers); and U–6 adds all people marginally attached to the labor force, plus people employed part time for economic reasons.

Figure 9. Measures of labor underutilization, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted, 1994–2015
Year and quarter	U–1	U–2	U–3	U–4	U–5	U–6
1994 Q1	2.4	3.2	6.6	6.9	7.9	11.5
1994 Q2	2.2	2.8	6.2	6.5	7.3	11.0
1994 Q3	2.1	2.8	6.0	6.3	7.2	10.5
1994 Q4	2.0	2.7	5.6	5.9	6.8	10.1
1995 Q1	1.8	2.6	5.5	5.7	6.7	10.0
1995 Q2	1.8	2.6	5.7	5.9	6.7	10.0
1995 Q3	1.8	2.6	5.7	5.9	6.7	10.1
1995 Q4	1.7	2.7	5.6	5.8	6.6	10.0
1996 Q1	1.8	2.7	5.5	5.8	6.7	9.9
1996 Q2	1.8	2.6	5.5	5.7	6.5	9.7
1996 Q3	1.7	2.4	5.3	5.5	6.2	9.5
1996 Q4	1.6	2.4	5.3	5.5	6.3	9.4
1997 Q1	1.6	2.4	5.2	5.4	6.2	9.3
1997 Q2	1.6	2.2	5.0	5.2	5.9	8.9
1997 Q3	1.5	2.1	4.9	5.0	5.7	8.6
1997 Q4	1.4	2.1	4.7	4.9	5.6	8.4
1998 Q1	1.3	2.1	4.6	4.8	5.6	8.4
1998 Q2	1.1	2.0	4.4	4.6	5.2	7.9
1998 Q3	1.2	2.0	4.5	4.7	5.4	8.0
1998 Q4	1.1	2.0	4.4	4.6	5.2	7.7
1999 Q1	1.1	1.9	4.3	4.5	5.2	7.7
1999 Q2	1.1	1.9	4.3	4.4	5.1	7.5
1999 Q3	1.1	1.9	4.2	4.4	5.0	7.4
1999 Q4	1.0	1.8	4.1	4.3	4.9	7.1
2000 Q1	0.9	1.8	4.0	4.2	4.9	7.1
2000 Q2	0.9	1.7	3.9	4.2	4.7	7.0
2000 Q3	0.9	1.8	4.0	4.2	4.8	7.0
2000 Q4	0.9	1.8	3.9	4.1	4.6	6.9
2001 Q1	1.0	2.0	4.2	4.4	5.1	7.3
2001 Q2	1.1	2.2	4.4	4.6	5.2	7.6
2001 Q3	1.3	2.4	4.8	5.0	5.7	8.2
2001 Q4	1.6	3.1	5.5	5.8	6.4	9.4
2002 Q1	1.8	3.1	5.7	5.9	6.6	9.5
2002 Q2	2.0	3.2	5.8	6.1	6.8	9.6
2002 Q3	2.0	3.2	5.7	6.0	6.7	9.6
2002 Q4	2.2	3.3	5.8	6.1	6.8	9.7
2003 Q1	2.2	3.3	5.9	6.2	6.9	10.1
2003 Q2	2.3	3.4	6.2	6.4	7.1	10.2
2003 Q3	2.4	3.4	6.1	6.4	7.1	10.3
2003 Q4	2.3	3.2	5.8	6.1	6.8	10.0
2004 Q1	2.3	3.0	5.7	6.0	6.7	9.9
2004 Q2	2.1	2.9	5.6	5.9	6.6	9.6
2004 Q3	2.0	2.8	5.4	5.7	6.4	9.4
2004 Q4	2.0	2.7	5.4	5.7	6.4	9.4
2005 Q1	1.9	2.6	5.3	5.6	6.3	9.2
2005 Q2	1.7	2.4	5.1	5.4	6.1	8.9
2005 Q3	1.7	2.4	5.0	5.2	5.9	8.9
2005 Q4	1.6	2.3	5.0	5.2	5.9	8.7
2006 Q1	1.6	2.2	4.7	5.0	5.7	8.4
2006 Q2	1.5	2.3	4.7	4.9	5.5	8.2
2006 Q3	1.5	2.2	4.6	4.9	5.6	8.3
2006 Q4	1.4	2.1	4.5	4.7	5.3	8.1
2007 Q1	1.4	2.2	4.5	4.8	5.4	8.2
2007 Q2	1.5	2.2	4.5	4.7	5.4	8.2
2007 Q3	1.5	2.4	4.7	4.9	5.5	8.4
2007 Q4	1.6	2.4	4.8	5.0	5.6	8.5
2008 Q1	1.6	2.6	5.0	5.2	5.9	9.1
2008 Q2	1.8	2.7	5.3	5.6	6.2	9.6
2008 Q3	2.2	3.2	6.0	6.3	7.0	10.8
2008 Q4	2.7	4.0	6.9	7.2	8.0	12.7
2009 Q1	3.5	5.2	8.3	8.7	9.5	15.1
2009 Q2	4.6	6.0	9.3	9.7	10.5	16.3
2009 Q3	5.2	6.3	9.6	10.0	10.9	16.6
2009 Q4	5.7	6.4	9.9	10.4	11.3	17.1
2010 Q1	5.8	6.2	9.8	10.5	11.2	16.9
2010 Q2	5.8	6.0	9.7	10.3	11.1	16.7
2010 Q3	5.5	5.9	9.5	10.2	10.9	16.6
2010 Q4	5.6	5.9	9.5	10.3	11.0	16.7
2011 Q1	5.4	5.5	9.0	9.6	10.6	16.1
2011 Q2	5.3	5.4	9.1	9.6	10.5	16.0
2011 Q3	5.4	5.2	9.0	9.6	10.5	16.1
2011 Q4	5.0	5.0	8.7	9.2	10.1	15.5
2012 Q1	4.7	4.6	8.3	8.8	9.8	14.9
2012 Q2	4.6	4.5	8.2	8.7	9.6	14.7
2012 Q3	4.4	4.4	8.0	8.5	9.5	14.7
2012 Q4	4.3	4.2	7.8	8.4	9.3	14.4
2013 Q1	4.1	4.2	7.7	8.2	9.2	14.2
2013 Q2	4.1	4.0	7.5	8.1	8.9	14.0
2013 Q3	3.9	3.8	7.3	7.8	8.7	13.7
2013 Q4	3.7	3.7	7.0	7.5	8.3	13.3
2014 Q1	3.4	3.5	6.6	7.1	8.0	12.6
2014 Q2	3.1	3.2	6.2	6.6	7.4	12.1
2014 Q3	2.9	3.0	6.1	6.5	7.4	12.0
2014 Q4	2.7	2.8	5.7	6.1	7.0	11.4
2015 Q1	2.5	2.7	5.5	6.0	6.8	11.0
2015 Q2	2.3	2.6	5.4	5.8	6.6	10.7
2015 Q3	2.2	2.6	5.1	5.5	6.3	10.2
2015 Q4	2.1	2.5	5.0	5.4	6.1	9.9
Note: Measures of labor underutlization are as follows: U–1 = people unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percentage of the civilian labor force; U–2 = job losers and people 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. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

In 2015, all six alternative measures of labor underutilization declined. U–1 declined to 2.1 percent and U–2 declined to 2.5 percent. U-3 declined to 5.0 percent.^{^¹³} Among the remaining three measures, U–4 declined to 5.4 percent by the end of 2015 and U–5 to 6.1 percent. The broadest measure, U–6, declined by 1.5 percentage points, to 9.9 percent. (See figure 9.)

Earnings

Figure 10. Women's median usual weekly earnings as a percentage of men's, full-time wage and salary workers, annual averages, 1979–2015
Year	Percent
1979	62.3
1980	64.2
1981	64.4
1982	65.7
1983	66.5
1984	67.6
1985	68.1
1986	69.5
1987	69.8
1988	70.2
1989	70.1
1990	71.9
1991	74.2
1992	75.8
1993	77.1
1994	76.4
1995	75.5
1996	75.0
1997	74.4
1998	76.3
1999	76.5
2000	76.9
2001	76.4
2002	77.9
2003	79.4
2004	80.4
2005	81.0
2006	80.8
2007	80.2
2008	79.9
2009	80.2
2010	81.2
2011	82.2
2012	80.9
2013	82.1
2014	82.5
2015	81.1
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

View Chart Data

In 2015, median weekly earnings for men increased by 2.8 percent over the year, to $895, and women’s earnings increased by 1.0 percent, to $726.^{^¹⁴} The increase in earnings for both men and women outpaced the change in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U), which was 0.1 percent from 2014 to 2015. (The data in this section are annual averages.) Women’s earnings averaged 81.1 percent of men’s earnings in 2015. This proportion has been in the 80-percent to 82-percent range since 2004. (See figure 10 and table 7.)

Table 7. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, by selected characteristics, annual averages, 2014–15
Characteristic	Current dollars
Characteristic	2014	2015	Percent change, 2014–15
Total, 16 years and older	$791	$809	2.3
CPI-U (1982–84 = 100)	236.74	237.02	.1
Men	$871	$895	2.8
Women	719	726	1.0
White	816	835	2.3
Men	897	920	2.6
Women	734	743	1.2
Black or African American	639	641	.3
Men	680	680	.0
Women	611	615	.7
Asian	953	993	4.2
Men	1,080	1,129	4.5
Women	841	877	4.3
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity	594	604	1.7
Men	616	631	2.4
Women	548	566	3.3
Total, 25 years and older	839	860	2.5
Less than a high school diploma	488	493	1.0
High school graduate, no college	668	678	1.5
Some college or associate's degree	761	762	.1
Bachelor's degree or higher	1,193	1,230	3.1
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey and Consumer Price Index.

Asians and Whites continued to have higher median usual weekly earnings ($993 and $835, respectively) in 2015 than Blacks ($641) and Hispanics ($604). The difference in median weekly earnings between Blacks and Hispanics has narrowed in recent years, reflecting relatively strong growth in earnings of Hispanic workers. (See table 7.)

In 2015, among full-time workers ages 25 and older, those with higher levels of educational attainment continued to have higher median weekly earnings than those with less education. Workers with at least a bachelor’s degree reported median weekly earnings of $1,230, an increase of 3.1 percent over the previous year’s figure. Workers with some college or an associate’s degree had earnings that were little different from 2014 earnings ($762 per week). Earnings of workers with only a high school diploma rose 1.5 percent, to $678 per week, while workers without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $493, a 1.0-percent increase from 2014 earnings. (See table 7.)

Veterans

In the fourth quarter of 2015, the unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) for veterans was 4.1 percent, little changed from the rate a year earlier, while the rate for nonveterans declined to 4.7 percent. In the CPS, veterans are defined as men and women 18 years and older who previously served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces and who were civilians at the time the survey was conducted. Veterans are categorized as having served in the following periods of service:^{^¹⁵} (1) Gulf War era II (September 2001 to the present), (2) Gulf War era I (August 1990 to August 2001), (3) World War II (December 1941 to December 1946), (4) Korean War (July 1950 to January 1955), (5) Vietnam era (August 1964 to April 1975), and (6) other service period (all other periods). (See table 8.)

Table 8. Employment status of people 18 years and older, by veteran status, period of service, and gender, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, 2014–15 (levels in thousands)
Employment status, veteran status, and period of service	Total			Men			Women
Employment status, veteran status, and period of service	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Veterans, 18 years and older
Civilian labor force	10,784	10,760	-24	9,462	9,517	55	1,322	1,243	-79
Participation rate (percent)	50.7	51.0	.3	49.3	49.9	.6	63.6	62.0	-1.6
Employed	10,291	10,317	26	9,049	9,128	79	1,242	1,190	-52
Employment– population ratio	48.3	48.9	.6	47.1	47.8	.7	59.8	59.4	-.4
Unemployed	493	442	-51	414	389	-25	80	53	-27
Unemployment rate (percent)	4.6	4.1	-.5	4.4	4.1	-.3	6.0	4.3	-1.7
Gulf War–era II veterans
Civilian labor force	2,738	3,067	329	2,270	2,552	282	468	515	47
Participation rate (percent)	78.6	82.3	3.7	80.7	84.2	3.5	69.5	73.9	4.4
Employed	2,558	2,918	360	2,130	2,436	306	427	482	55
Employment– population ratio	73.4	78.3	4.9	75.8	80.4	4.6	63.4	69.2	5.8
Unemployed	180	149	-31	140	116	-24	41	33	-8
Unemployment rate (percent)	6.6	4.9	-1.7	6.1	4.5	-1.6	8.7	6.4	-2.3
Gulf War–era I veterans
Civilian labor force	2,720	2,691	-29	2,331	2,345	14	389	346	-43
Participation rate (percent)	82.4	79.4	-3.0	84.0	80.6	-3.4	73.9	72.1	-1.8
Employed	2,645	2,588	-57	2,269	2,251	-18	376	337	-39
Employment– population ratio	80.1	76.3	-3.8	81.8	77.3	-4.5	71.3	70.2	-1.1
Unemployed	75	104	29	62	94	32	13	9	-4
Unemployment rate (percent)	2.8	3.8	1.0	2.7	4.0	1.3	3.4	2.7	-.7
World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam-era veterans
Civilian labor force	2,508	2,261	-247	2,418	2,191	-227	90	70	-20
Participation rate (percent)	27.3	25.9	-1.4	27.3	26.0	-1.3	27.1	22.5	-4.6
Employed	2,398	2,185	-213	2,315	2,123	-192	84	62	-22
Employment– population ratio	26.1	25.0	-1.1	26.2	25.2	-1.0	25.1	20.0	-5.1
Unemployed	110	76	-34	104	68	-36	6	8	2
Unemployment rate (percent)	4.4	3.4	-1.0	4.3	3.1	-1.2	7.1	11.3	4.2
Veterans of other service periods
Civilian labor force	2,818	2,741	-77	2,443	2,429	-14	374	312	-62
Participation rate (percent)	53.0	52.4	-.6	51.2	51.5	.3	68.7	60.5	-8.2
Employed	2,690	2,627	-63	2,335	2,318	-17	355	308	-47
Employment– population ratio	50.6	50.2	-.4	48.9	49.2	.3	65.1	59.9	-5.2
Unemployed	128	114	-14	108	111	3	19	3	-16
Unemployment rate (percent)	4.5	4.2	-.3	4.4	4.6	.2	5.2	1.1	-4.1
Nonveterans, 18 years and older
Civilian labor force	143,383	144,683	1,300	72,447	72,978	531	70,936	71,706	770
Participation rate (percent)	65.6	65.2	-.4	75.1	74.5	-.6	58.1	57.9	-.2
Employed	135,675	137,843	2,168	68,471	69,403	932	67,204	68,439	1,235
Employment– population ratio	62.1	62.2	.1	71.0	70.9	-.1	55.0	55.3	.3
Unemployed	7,708	6,841	-867	3,977	3,574	-403	3,731	3,266	-465
Unemployment rate (percent)	5.4	4.7	-.7	5.5	4.9	-.6	5.3	4.6	-.7
Note: Veterans served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces and were not on active duty at the time of the survey. Nonveterans never served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces. Veterans could have served anywhere in the world during these periods of service: Gulf War era II (September 2001–present), Gulf War era I (August 1990–August 2001), Vietnam era (August 1964–April 1975), Korean War (July 1950–January 1955), World War II (December 1941–December 1946), and other service periods. Veterans who served in more than one wartime period are classified as being only in the most recent one. Veterans who served during one of the selected wartime periods and another period are classified only into the wartime period selected. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

The unemployment rate for male veterans was 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, and the rate for female veterans was 4.3 percent. These rates were little different from those of the previous year. Among male Gulf War–era II veterans (those who had served since September 2001), the unemployment rate declined 1.6 percentage points in 2015, to 4.5 percent. The unemployment rate for female veterans from this era, 6.4 percent, was little changed.

Overall, 49.9 percent of male veterans were in the labor force in the fourth quarter of 2015, as opposed to 74.5 percent of their nonveteran counterparts. This disparity is due in large part to the age distribution of male veterans compared with that of male nonveterans: the percentage of male veterans in older age brackets is greater, and older individuals tend to have low labor force participation rates. In the fourth quarter, the participation rate for veterans of Gulf War II was 84.2 percent for men and 73.9 percent for women. Participation rates for both male and female veterans of Gulf War II rose from the rates posted a year earlier.

People with a disability

Over the year, there was little change in the employment situation for people with a disability. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the labor force participation rate for people with a disability edged down to 19.2 percent (not seasonally adjusted), and the rate for people without a disability edged down to 68.3 percent. (See table 9.) The lower participation rate among people with a disability reflects, in part, the fact that a large proportion of this group is 65 years and older, an age cohort with a low rate of labor force participation. Barriers to employment, limited assistance, and other labor-related issues also may contribute to low participation rates among people with a disability.^{^¹⁶} In the fourth quarter of 2015, men and women ages 16 to 64 years with a disability were also much less likely to be in the labor force than their counterparts with no disability: for men in this age group, the labor force participation rate was 31.9 percent, compared with 81.9 percent for men without a disability; for women in the same age group, the participation rate at the end of 2015 was 28.2 percent for those with a disability and 70.4 percent for those without a disability.

Table 9. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population, by gender, age, and disability status, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, 2014–15 (levels in thousands)
Employment status, gender, and age	People with a disability			People with no disability
Employment status, gender, and age	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Total, 16 years and older
Civilian labor force	5,935	5,715	-220	150,209	151,585	1,376
Participation rate (percent)	20.0	19.2	-.8	68.5	68.3	-.2
Employed	5,275	5,087	-188	142,322	144,642	2,320
Employment– population ratio	17.8	17.1	-.7	64.9	65.1	.2
Unemployed	660	628	-32	7,887	6,943	-944
Unemployment rate (percent)	11.1	11.0	-.1	5.3	4.6	-.7
Men, 16 to 64 years
Civilian labor force	2,576	2,438	-138	75,679	76,081	402
Participation rate (percent)	33.0	31.9	-1.1	82.1	81.9	-.2
Employed	2,272	2,133	-139	71,611	72,424	813
Employment– population ratio	29.1	27.9	-1.2	77.7	78.0	.3
Unemployed	303	305	2	4,068	3,657	-411
Unemployment rate (percent)	11.8	12.5	.7	5.4	4.8	-.6
Women, 16 to 64 years
Civilian labor force	2,347	2,275	-72	67,069	67,570	501
Participation rate (percent)	29.1	28.2	-.9	70.4	70.4	.0
Employed	2,055	2,004	-51	63,551	64,536	985
Employment– population ratio	25.5	24.9	-.6	66.7	67.2	.5
Unemployed	292	272	-20	3,518	3,035	-483
Unemployment rate (percent)	12.4	11.9	-.5	5.2	4.5	-.7
Total, 65 years and older
Civilian labor force	1,012	1,002	-10	7,461	7,933	472
Participation rate (percent)	7.3	7.2	-.1	23.5	23.9	.4
Employed	947	950	3	7,161	7,682	521
Employment– population ratio	6.9	6.8	-.1	22.6	23.2	.6
Unemployed	65	52	-13	301	251	-50
Unemployment rate (percent)	6.4	5.2	-1.2	4.0	3.2	-.8
Note: A person with a disability has at least one of the following conditions: is deaf or has serious difficulty hearing; is blind or has serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses; has serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition; has serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs; has difficulty dressing or bathing; has difficulty doing errands alone, such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping, because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

The unemployment rate for people with a disability, 11.0 percent, was about unchanged over the year. The rate for people without a disability declined by 0.7 percentage point, to 4.6 percent, in 2015.

Foreign-born workers

In 2015, unemployment rates continued to decline for both foreign-born and native-born individuals. By the fourth quarter, the jobless rate for the foreign born was 4.5 percent (not seasonally adjusted), a decrease of 0.8 percentage point over the 2014 rate. The jobless rate for native-born workers was 4.9 percent, a decline of 0.6 percentage point. (See table 10.) Foreign-born workers are workers who reside in the United States but were born outside the country or one of its outlying areas (such as Puerto Rico or Guam) to parents, neither of whom was a U.S. citizen. The foreign born comprise legally admitted immigrants; refugees; temporary residents, such as students and temporary workers; and undocumented immigrants.

Table 10. Employment status of the foreign- and native-born populations, by gender, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, 2014–15 (levels in thousands)
Employment status and nativity	Total			Men			Women
Employment status and nativity	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015	Fourth quarter 2014	Fourth quarter 2015	Change, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Foreign born, 16 years and older
Civilian labor force	26,396	26,537	141	15,446	15,426	-20	10,949	11,112	163
Participation rate (percent)	66.2	65.7	-.5	78.7	78.2	-.5	54.1	53.8	-.3
Employed	24,994	25,347	353	14,697	14,813	116	10,297	10,534	237
Employment– population ratio	62.7	62.8	.1	74.9	75.1	.2	50.9	51.0	.1
Unemployed	1,402	1,191	-211	750	613	-137	652	578	-74
Unemployment rate (percent)	5.3	4.5	-.8	4.9	4.0	-.9	6.0	5.2	-.8
Native born, 16 years and older
Civilian labor force	129,749	130,762	1,013	67,457	67,997	540	62,292	62,765	473
Participation rate (percent)	62.1	61.9	-.2	67.1	66.8	-.3	57.5	57.3	-.2
Employed	122,603	124,382	1,779	63,622	64,480	858	58,982	59,901	919
Employment– population ratio	58.7	58.8	.1	63.3	63.3	.0	54.4	54.7	.3
Unemployed	7,146	6,380	-766	3,835	3,517	-318	3,310	2,864	-446
Unemployment rate (percent)	5.5	4.9	-.6	5.7	5.2	-.5	5.3	4.6	-.7
Note: The foreign born are those residing in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. That is, they were born outside the United States or one of its outlying areas, such as Puerto Rico or Guam, and neither parent was a U.S. citizen. The native born are people who were born in the United States or one of its outlying areas, such as Puerto Rico or Guam, or who were born abroad to at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, foreign-born workers accounted for 16.9 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force. The labor force participation rate for the foreign born changed little over the year, while the rate for the native born edged down over the year. In the fourth quarter of 2015, foreign-born men continued to have higher participation rates (78.2 percent) than native-born men (66.8 percent), while native-born women were more likely to be in the labor force (57.3 percent) than women who were foreign born (53.8 percent).

Summary

CPS data indicate that the U.S. labor market continued to grow in 2015. Both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate declined. The unemployment rate ended the year at 5.0 percent, down 0.7 percentage point over the year, but still slightly above the cyclical low that predated the 2007–09 recession. The proportion of unemployed people who had been jobless for long periods also continued to decline but remained well above prerecession levels. Employment, as measured by the CPS, expanded over the year, although growth was considerably slower than in 2014, and there still were a sizable number of people working part time even though they would have preferred full-time jobs. The employment–population ratio was little changed in 2015, while the labor force participation rate continued to trend downward. Of particular note, median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers rose at a faster rate than inflation in 2015.

Suggested citation:

Janie-Lynn Kang, and Lisa M. Williamson, "Unemployment rate nears prerecession level by end of 2015," Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 2016, https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2016.19

Notes

^¹ The data in this article are based on information collected in the Current Population Survey (CPS), also called the household survey. The CPS is a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households nationwide that the U.S. Census Bureau conducts for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although the CPS is a monthly survey, the data analyzed in the article are seasonally adjusted quarterly averages unless otherwise noted. All over-the-year changes are comparisons of fourth-quarter data from 2014 with fourth-quarter data from 2015 unless otherwise noted. Effective with the data for January 2015, updated population estimates were used in the household survey. Each year, the Census Bureau updates its population estimates to reflect new information and assumptions about the growth of the population during the decade. In accordance with usual practice, BLS did not revise the official household survey estimates for December 2014 and earlier months. For additional information on the population adjustments and their effect on national labor force estimates, see “Adjustments to household survey population estimates in January 2015” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, February 2015), https://www.bls.gov/cps/cps15adj.pdf.

² The Great Recession officially began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which determines the start and end dates of U.S. recessions on the basis of a range of economic indicators. Turning points for recessions are quarterly in this article.

³ People whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. In the CPS, about 90 percent of people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity are White.

⁴ Unemployment rates by occupation are based on the last job an individual held. Unemployed people who have no previous work experience are excluded.

⁵ The duration of joblessness is the length of time (through the current reference week) that people classified as unemployed have been looking for work. This measure refers to the duration of the current spell of unemployment, rather than to that of a completed spell.

⁶ For additional information, see Thomas Luke Spreen, “Ranks of those unemployed for a year or more up sharply,” Issues in Labor Statistics, Summary 10-10 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2010), https://www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils87.pdf .

⁷ For additional information and analysis of data, see Randy E. Ilg and Eleni Theodossiou, “Job search of the unemployed by duration of unemployment,” Monthly Labor Review, March 2012, pp. 41–49, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/03/art3full.pdf; Randy E. Ilg, “How long before the unemployed find jobs or quit looking?” Issues in Labor Statistics, Summary 11-1 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2011), https://www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils89.pdf; “Labor force flows in the most recent recession,” Issues in Labor Statistics, Summary 10-08 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 2010), https://www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils85.pdf; and Harley J. Frazis and Randy E. Ilg, “Trends in labor force flows during recent recessions,” Monthly Labor Review, April 2009, pp. 3–18, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2009/04/art1full.pdf.

⁸ For additional information, see Emy Sok, “Involuntary part-time work on the rise,” Issues in Labor Statistics, Summary 08-08 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, December 2008), https://www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils71.pdf.

⁹ For additional information, see Mitra Toossi, “Labor force projections to 2024: the labor force is growing, but slowly,” Monthly Labor Review, December 2015, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/article/labor-force-projections-to-2024.htm.

¹⁰ The number of people not in the labor force who want a job is a measure of those who reported wanting a job without necessarily having looked for one; conceptually, this group includes all people who are not in the labor force and who reported that they currently want a job.

¹¹ For additional information, see Steven Hipple, “People who are not in the labor force: why aren’t they working?” Beyond the Numbers, December 2015, https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-4/people-who-are-not-in-the-labor-force-why-arent-they-working.htm.

¹² For further information on the underutilization of labor, see Vernon Brundage, “Trends in unemployment and other labor market difficulties,” Beyond the Numbers, November 2014, https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-3/trends-in-unemployment-and-other-labor-market-difficulties.htm; and Steven E. Haugen, “Measures of labor underutilization from the Current Population Survey,” Working Paper 424 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2009), https://www.bls.gov/osmr/research-papers/2009/pdf/ec090020.pdf.

¹³ Also known as the “national unemployment rate,” U–3 measures the total number of unemployed people as a percentage of the civilian labor force. In 2015, U–2 once again exceeded U–1, resuming the pattern that existed for most of the history of the six measures. For a number of years following the 2007–09 recession, U–1 exceeded U–2. (For more information, see Eleni Theodossiou Sherman and Janie-Lynn Kang, “Continued improvement in U.S. labor market in 2014,” Monthly Labor Review, April 2015, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/article/continued-improvement-in-u-s-labor-market-in-2014.htm.)

¹⁴ Comparisons of earnings in this article are on a broad level and do not control for many factors—such as occupation, education, geographic location, and firm size—that can be important in explaining earnings differences.

¹⁵ Veterans who served in more than one wartime period are classified into only the most recent one.

¹⁶ For more information on these issues, see “Persons with a disability: barriers to employment, types of assistance, and other labor-related issues,” USDL-13-0729 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 24, 2013), https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/dissup.pdf; and John Robertson and Ellyn Terry, “Shrinking labor market opportunities for the disabled?” (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, January 29, 2016), http://macroblog.typepad.com/macroblog/2016/01/shrinking-labor-market-opportunities-for-the-disabled.html.