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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.
Number of unemployed persons by duration of unemployment, seasonally adjusted, January 2007–December 2013
Month
Less than 5 weeks
5 to 14 weeks
15 to 26 weeks
27 weeks and over
January 2007
2,561,000
2,267,000
1,015,000
1,141,000
February 2007
2,574,000
2,168,000
962,000
1,249,000
March 2007
2,307,000
2,138,000
1,010,000
1,245,000
April 2007
2,456,000
2,178,000
1,075,000
1,206,000
May 2007
2,464,000
2,183,000
1,100,000
1,132,000
June 2007
2,551,000
2,134,000
1,138,000
1,143,000
July 2007
2,502,000
2,203,000
1,073,000
1,291,000
August 2007
2,614,000
2,156,000
1,086,000
1,246,000
September 2007
2,557,000
2,292,000
1,091,000
1,264,000
October 2007
2,545,000
2,502,000
1,003,000
1,298,000
November 2007
2,645,000
2,241,000
992,000
1,374,000
December 2007
2,718,000
2,376,000
1,177,000
1,324,000
January 2008
2,554,000
2,406,000
1,152,000
1,388,000
February 2008
2,653,000
2,370,000
1,116,000
1,329,000
March 2008
2,823,000
2,537,000
1,168,000
1,323,000
April 2008
2,493,000
2,574,000
1,314,000
1,372,000
May 2008
3,278,000
2,476,000
1,219,000
1,561,000
June 2008
2,753,000
3,016,000
1,337,000
1,576,000
July 2008
2,854,000
2,833,000
1,450,000
1,664,000
August 2008
3,256,000
2,758,000
1,554,000
1,866,000
September 2008
2,848,000
3,035,000
1,599,000
2,027,000
October 2008
3,170,000
3,055,000
1,710,000
2,280,000
November 2008
3,335,000
3,260,000
1,704,000
2,219,000
December 2008
3,255,000
3,498,000
1,936,000
2,610,000
January 2009
3,524,000
3,662,000
2,065,000
2,699,000
February 2009
3,450,000
3,936,000
2,456,000
2,999,000
March 2009
3,465,000
4,122,000
2,625,000
3,260,000
April 2009
3,338,000
4,138,000
2,634,000
3,752,000
May 2009
3,246,000
4,458,000
3,049,000
3,973,000
June 2009
3,114,000
4,052,000
3,488,000
4,349,000
July 2009
3,137,000
3,505,000
2,923,000
4,917,000
August 2009
2,940,000
3,927,000
2,791,000
5,037,000
September 2009
2,841,000
3,775,000
2,908,000
5,494,000
October 2009
3,223,000
3,552,000
3,006,000
5,643,000
November 2009
2,816,000
3,457,000
2,847,000
5,908,000
December 2009
2,879,000
3,457,000
2,712,000
6,122,000
January 2010
2,918,000
3,387,000
2,570,000
6,334,000
February 2010
2,798,000
3,389,000
2,764,000
6,170,000
March 2010
2,773,000
3,290,000
2,519,000
6,576,000
April 2010
2,726,000
3,082,000
2,363,000
6,770,000
May 2010
2,775,000
3,117,000
2,248,000
6,644,000
June 2010
2,680,000
3,156,000
2,294,000
6,604,000
July 2010
2,810,000
2,994,000
2,220,000
6,484,000
August 2010
2,683,000
3,534,000
2,171,000
6,234,000
September 2010
2,817,000
3,309,000
2,293,000
6,151,000
October 2010
2,657,000
3,343,000
2,385,000
6,232,000
November 2010
2,911,000
3,321,000
2,377,000
6,319,000
December 2010
2,681,000
3,169,000
2,118,000
6,431,000
January 2011
2,676,000
3,015,000
2,210,000
6,220,000
February 2011
2,454,000
3,114,000
2,244,000
5,969,000
March 2011
2,541,000
2,974,000
2,034,000
6,150,000
April 2011
2,785,000
2,966,000
2,106,000
5,901,000
May 2011
2,682,000
2,911,000
2,031,000
6,158,000
June 2011
2,935,000
2,981,000
1,899,000
6,208,000
July 2011
2,650,000
2,976,000
2,009,000
6,142,000
August 2011
2,670,000
2,996,000
2,213,000
6,001,000
September 2011
2,743,000
2,888,000
2,015,000
6,266,000
October 2011
2,663,000
3,244,000
1,947,000
5,861,000
November 2011
2,560,000
2,914,000
2,032,000
5,681,000
December 2011
2,646,000
2,865,000
1,955,000
5,600,000
January 2012
2,461,000
2,880,000
1,942,000
5,524,000
February 2012
2,584,000
2,842,000
2,021,000
5,352,000
March 2012
2,724,000
2,792,000
1,924,000
5,292,000
April 2012
2,621,000
2,839,000
1,951,000
5,106,000
May 2012
2,575,000
3,018,000
1,677,000
5,392,000
June 2012
2,741,000
2,804,000
1,839,000
5,331,000
July 2012
2,708,000
3,037,000
1,780,000
5,166,000
August 2012
2,832,000
2,834,000
1,845,000
5,003,000
September 2012
2,517,000
2,825,000
1,853,000
4,875,000
October 2012
2,619,000
2,850,000
1,774,000
5,021,000
November 2012
2,636,000
2,777,000
1,796,000
4,767,000
December 2012
2,688,000
2,876,000
1,862,000
4,772,000
January 2013
2,753,000
3,077,000
1,867,000
4,707,000
February 2013
2,677,000
2,788,000
1,735,000
4,750,000
March 2013
2,497,000
2,843,000
1,779,000
4,576,000
April 2013
2,491,000
2,844,000
1,969,000
4,360,000
May 2013
2,704,000
2,642,000
1,934,000
4,353,000
June 2013
2,665,000
2,848,000
1,892,000
4,325,000
July 2013
2,548,000
2,826,000
1,786,000
4,246,000
August 2013
2,527,000
2,738,000
1,704,000
4,269,000
September 2013
2,571,000
2,685,000
1,802,000
4,125,000
October 2013
2,794,000
2,636,000
1,777,000
4,047,000
November 2013
2,439,000
2,585,000
1,742,000
4,044,000
December 2013
2,255,000
2,506,000
1,651,000
3,878,000
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
Category
December 2012
December 2013
Discouraged over job prospects
1,068,000
917,000
Other
797,000
867,000
Family responsibilities
222,000
268,000
In school or training
346,000
246,000
Ill health or disability
181,000
129,000
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).
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 September 15, 2024).
United States Department of Labor
