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In March 2013, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.6 million. These individuals accounted for 39.6 percent of the 11.7 million unemployed persons counted in March.
Month | Less than 5 weeks | 5 to 14 weeks | 15 to 26 weeks | 27 weeks and over |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 2008 | 34.1 | 32.1 | 15.4 | 18.5 |
Feb 2008 | 35.5 | 31.7 | 14.9 | 17.8 |
Mar 2008 | 36.0 | 32.3 | 14.9 | 16.9 |
Apr 2008 | 32.2 | 33.2 | 17.0 | 17.7 |
May 2008 | 38.4 | 29.0 | 14.3 | 18.3 |
Jun 2008 | 31.7 | 34.7 | 15.4 | 18.2 |
Jul 2008 | 32.4 | 32.2 | 16.5 | 18.9 |
Aug 2008 | 34.5 | 29.2 | 16.5 | 19.8 |
Sep 2008 | 29.9 | 31.9 | 16.8 | 21.3 |
Oct 2008 | 31.0 | 29.9 | 16.7 | 22.3 |
Nov 2008 | 31.7 | 31.0 | 16.2 | 21.1 |
Dec 2008 | 28.8 | 31.0 | 17.1 | 23.1 |
Jan 2009 | 29.5 | 30.6 | 17.3 | 22.6 |
Feb 2009 | 26.8 | 30.7 | 19.0 | 23.5 |
Mar 2009 | 25.5 | 30.7 | 19.5 | 24.3 |
Apr 2009 | 24.1 | 29.9 | 19.2 | 26.9 |
May 2009 | 22.1 | 30.2 | 20.8 | 27.0 |
Jun 2009 | 20.9 | 27.0 | 23.1 | 29.0 |
Jul 2009 | 21.6 | 24.3 | 20.1 | 33.9 |
Aug 2009 | 20.1 | 26.7 | 18.9 | 34.3 |
Sep 2009 | 18.9 | 25.1 | 19.4 | 36.6 |
Oct 2009 | 20.9 | 23.0 | 19.5 | 36.6 |
Nov 2009 | 18.7 | 23.0 | 19.0 | 39.4 |
Dec 2009 | 19.0 | 22.7 | 18.0 | 40.3 |
Jan 2010 | 19.3 | 22.2 | 16.9 | 41.6 |
Feb 2010 | 18.4 | 22.4 | 18.1 | 41.1 |
Mar 2010 | 17.9 | 21.8 | 16.6 | 43.7 |
Apr 2010 | 18.2 | 20.7 | 16.2 | 45.0 |
May 2010 | 18.8 | 21.0 | 15.3 | 44.9 |
Jun 2010 | 18.4 | 21.4 | 15.4 | 44.8 |
Jul 2010 | 19.3 | 20.9 | 15.2 | 44.6 |
Aug 2010 | 18.5 | 24.2 | 14.7 | 42.7 |
Sep 2010 | 19.4 | 22.7 | 15.8 | 42.2 |
Oct 2010 | 18.2 | 22.8 | 16.5 | 42.6 |
Nov 2010 | 19.4 | 22.2 | 16.0 | 42.4 |
Dec 2010 | 18.6 | 21.9 | 14.9 | 44.6 |
Jan 2011 | 19.1 | 21.3 | 15.7 | 44.0 |
Feb 2011 | 17.7 | 22.5 | 16.0 | 43.7 |
Mar 2011 | 18.1 | 21.9 | 14.7 | 45.3 |
Apr 2011 | 20.1 | 21.6 | 15.7 | 42.6 |
May 2011 | 19.5 | 21.0 | 14.9 | 44.6 |
Jun 2011 | 21.3 | 21.3 | 13.3 | 44.1 |
Jul 2011 | 19.1 | 21.9 | 14.4 | 44.5 |
Aug 2011 | 19.4 | 21.6 | 15.7 | 43.3 |
Sep 2011 | 19.8 | 20.7 | 14.5 | 44.9 |
Oct 2011 | 19.4 | 23.6 | 14.4 | 42.6 |
Nov 2011 | 19.2 | 22.0 | 15.6 | 43.2 |
Dec 2011 | 20.2 | 21.7 | 15.2 | 42.8 |
Jan 2012 | 19.4 | 22.4 | 15.1 | 43.0 |
Feb 2012 | 20.1 | 22.1 | 15.5 | 42.3 |
Mar 2012 | 20.7 | 22.2 | 14.9 | 42.2 |
Apr 2012 | 20.6 | 22.9 | 16.0 | 40.5 |
May 2012 | 20.5 | 23.7 | 13.4 | 42.4 |
Jun 2012 | 22.1 | 22.1 | 14.2 | 41.7 |
Jul 2012 | 21.2 | 24.4 | 13.8 | 40.6 |
Aug 2012 | 22.8 | 22.7 | 14.5 | 40.0 |
Sep 2012 | 21.0 | 23.4 | 15.4 | 40.3 |
Oct 2012 | 21.4 | 23.1 | 14.7 | 40.8 |
Nov 2012 | 21.7 | 23.1 | 15.2 | 40.0 |
Dec 2012 | 22.0 | 23.3 | 15.6 | 39.1 |
Jan 2013 | 22.4 | 24.5 | 15.0 | 38.1 |
Feb 2013 | 22.3 | 23.3 | 14.2 | 40.2 |
Mar 2013 | 21.1 | 24.4 | 14.9 | 39.6 |
The percentage of long-term unemployed for March 2013 is a decline of 2.6 percentage points from the prior year; in March 2012, 42.2 percent of the unemployed had been jobless for 27 weeks or longer.
The total number of unemployed persons (at 11.7 million) was little changed in March 2013; similarly, the unemployment rate, which is the unemployed as a percentage of the 155.0 million persons in the civilian labor force, was also little changed, at 7.6 percent.
These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — March 2013," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL-13-0581.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Duration of unemployment in March 2013 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130409.htm (visited October 31, 2024).