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Long-term unemployed account for 37.7 percent of all unemployed persons in December 2013

January 14, 2014

From December 2012 to December 2013, the number of long-term unemployed (seasonally adjusted) declined by 894,000 to 3.9 million, or 37.7% of the unemployed. In December 2013, 2.4 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force, little changed from a  year earlier.

Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment, seasonally adjusted, December 2013
Number of unemployed persons by duration of unemployment, seasonally adjusted, January 2007–December 2013
MonthLess than 5 weeks5 to 14 weeks15 to 26 weeks27 weeks and over

January 2007

2,561,0002,267,0001,015,0001,141,000

February 2007

2,574,0002,168,000962,0001,249,000

March 2007

2,307,0002,138,0001,010,0001,245,000

April 2007

2,456,0002,178,0001,075,0001,206,000

May 2007

2,464,0002,183,0001,100,0001,132,000

June 2007

2,551,0002,134,0001,138,0001,143,000

July 2007

2,502,0002,203,0001,073,0001,291,000

August 2007

2,614,0002,156,0001,086,0001,246,000

September 2007

2,557,0002,292,0001,091,0001,264,000

October 2007

2,545,0002,502,0001,003,0001,298,000

November 2007

2,645,0002,241,000992,0001,374,000

December 2007

2,718,0002,376,0001,177,0001,324,000

January 2008

2,554,0002,406,0001,152,0001,388,000

February 2008

2,653,0002,370,0001,116,0001,329,000

March 2008

2,823,0002,537,0001,168,0001,323,000

April 2008

2,493,0002,574,0001,314,0001,372,000

May 2008

3,278,0002,476,0001,219,0001,561,000

June 2008

2,753,0003,016,0001,337,0001,576,000

July 2008

2,854,0002,833,0001,450,0001,664,000

August 2008

3,256,0002,758,0001,554,0001,866,000

September 2008

2,848,0003,035,0001,599,0002,027,000

October 2008

3,170,0003,055,0001,710,0002,280,000

November 2008

3,335,0003,260,0001,704,0002,219,000

December 2008

3,255,0003,498,0001,936,0002,610,000

January 2009

3,524,0003,662,0002,065,0002,699,000

February 2009

3,450,0003,936,0002,456,0002,999,000

March 2009

3,465,0004,122,0002,625,0003,260,000

April 2009

3,338,0004,138,0002,634,0003,752,000

May 2009

3,246,0004,458,0003,049,0003,973,000

June 2009

3,114,0004,052,0003,488,0004,349,000

July 2009

3,137,0003,505,0002,923,0004,917,000

August 2009

2,940,0003,927,0002,791,0005,037,000

September 2009

2,841,0003,775,0002,908,0005,494,000

October 2009

3,223,0003,552,0003,006,0005,643,000

November 2009

2,816,0003,457,0002,847,0005,908,000

December 2009

2,879,0003,457,0002,712,0006,122,000

January 2010

2,918,0003,387,0002,570,0006,334,000

February 2010

2,798,0003,389,0002,764,0006,170,000

March 2010

2,773,0003,290,0002,519,0006,576,000

April 2010

2,726,0003,082,0002,363,0006,770,000

May 2010

2,775,0003,117,0002,248,0006,644,000

June 2010

2,680,0003,156,0002,294,0006,604,000

July 2010

2,810,0002,994,0002,220,0006,484,000

August 2010

2,683,0003,534,0002,171,0006,234,000

September 2010

2,817,0003,309,0002,293,0006,151,000

October 2010

2,657,0003,343,0002,385,0006,232,000

November 2010

2,911,0003,321,0002,377,0006,319,000

December 2010

2,681,0003,169,0002,118,0006,431,000

January 2011

2,676,0003,015,0002,210,0006,220,000

February 2011

2,454,0003,114,0002,244,0005,969,000

March 2011

2,541,0002,974,0002,034,0006,150,000

April 2011

2,785,0002,966,0002,106,0005,901,000

May 2011

2,682,0002,911,0002,031,0006,158,000

June 2011

2,935,0002,981,0001,899,0006,208,000

July 2011

2,650,0002,976,0002,009,0006,142,000

August 2011

2,670,0002,996,0002,213,0006,001,000

September 2011

2,743,0002,888,0002,015,0006,266,000

October 2011

2,663,0003,244,0001,947,0005,861,000

November 2011

2,560,0002,914,0002,032,0005,681,000

December 2011

2,646,0002,865,0001,955,0005,600,000

January 2012

2,461,0002,880,0001,942,0005,524,000

February 2012

2,584,0002,842,0002,021,0005,352,000

March 2012

2,724,0002,792,0001,924,0005,292,000

April 2012

2,621,0002,839,0001,951,0005,106,000

May 2012

2,575,0003,018,0001,677,0005,392,000

June 2012

2,741,0002,804,0001,839,0005,331,000

July 2012

2,708,0003,037,0001,780,0005,166,000

August 2012

2,832,0002,834,0001,845,0005,003,000

September 2012

2,517,0002,825,0001,853,0004,875,000

October 2012

2,619,0002,850,0001,774,0005,021,000

November 2012

2,636,0002,777,0001,796,0004,767,000

December 2012

2,688,0002,876,0001,862,0004,772,000

January 2013

2,753,0003,077,0001,867,0004,707,000

February 2013

2,677,0002,788,0001,735,0004,750,000

March 2013

2,497,0002,843,0001,779,0004,576,000

April 2013

2,491,0002,844,0001,969,0004,360,000

May 2013

2,704,0002,642,0001,934,0004,353,000

June 2013

2,665,0002,848,0001,892,0004,325,000

July 2013

2,548,0002,826,0001,786,0004,246,000

August 2013

2,527,0002,738,0001,704,0004,269,000

September 2013

2,571,0002,685,0001,802,0004,125,000

October 2013

2,794,0002,636,0001,777,0004,047,000

November 2013

2,439,0002,585,0001,742,0004,044,000

December 2013

2,255,0002,506,0001,651,0003,878,000

Among the unemployed in December 2013, those persons without a job for 15 to 26 weeks represented the smallest share of the unemployed—at 16.0 percent, or 1,651,000.

Among those marginally attached to the labor force, the number of discouraged workers (not seasonally adjusted) declined by 151,000 to 917,000.  The remaining 1.5 million persons other than discouraged workers had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Persons marginally attached to the labor force by reason for not currently looking for work, December 2012 and December 2013
Persons marginally attached to the labor force by reason for not currently looking for work, December 2012 and December 2013
CategoryDecember 2012December 2013

Discouraged over job prospects

1,068,000917,000

Other

797,000867,000

Family responsibilities

222,000268,000

In school or training

346,000246,000

Ill health or disability

181,000129,000

 

These data are from the Current Population Survey. Data on the long-term unemployed are seasonally adjusted.  All other data are not seasonally adjusted. The long-term unemployed are those persons that are jobless for 27 weeks and over. Persons that are marginally attached to the labor force are individuals that were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months, but not in the last 4 weeks. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — December 2013," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL-14-0002. More charts featuring CPS data can be found in Charting the labor market: Data from the Current Population Survey, December 2013 (PDF). 

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Long-term unemployed account for 37.7 percent of all unemployed persons in December 2013 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140114.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

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