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errata

The data labels on the horizontal axis in the second chart were incorrect. The labels were corrected on June 10, 2015, to reflect the May 2006–May 2015 period.

Labor force participation rate little changed at 62.9% in May 2015

June 09, 2015

In May 2015, the unemployment rate (5.5 percent) and the number of unemployed (8.7 million) were essentially unchanged. Both measures have shown little movement since February. The labor force participation rate was little changed at 62.9 percent. Since April 2014, the participation rate has remained within a narrow range of 62.7 percent to 62.9 percent. The employment–population ratio, at 59.4 percent, was essentially unchanged in May.

Labor force participation rate and employment–population ratio, seasonally adjusted, May 2006–May 2015
Month Labor force participation rate Employment-population ratio

May 2006

66.1 63.1

Jun 2006

66.2 63.1

Jul 2006

66.1 63.0

Aug 2006

66.2 63.1

Sep 2006

66.1 63.1

Oct 2006

66.2 63.3

Nov 2006

66.3 63.3

Dec 2006

66.4 63.4

Jan 2007

66.4 63.3

Feb 2007

66.3 63.3

Mar 2007

66.2 63.3

Apr 2007

65.9 63.0

May 2007

66.0 63.0

Jun 2007

66.0 63.0

Jul 2007

66.0 62.9

Aug 2007

65.8 62.7

Sep 2007

66.0 62.9

Oct 2007

65.8 62.7

Nov 2007

66.0 62.9

Dec 2007

66.0 62.7

Jan 2008

66.2 62.9

Feb 2008

66.0 62.8

Mar 2008

66.1 62.7

Apr 2008

65.9 62.7

May 2008

66.1 62.5

Jun 2008

66.1 62.4

Jul 2008

66.1 62.2

Aug 2008

66.1 62.0

Sep 2008

66.0 61.9

Oct 2008

66.0 61.7

Nov 2008

65.9 61.4

Dec 2008

65.8 61.0

Jan 2009

65.7 60.6

Feb 2009

65.8 60.3

Mar 2009

65.6 59.9

Apr 2009

65.7 59.8

May 2009

65.7 59.6

Jun 2009

65.7 59.4

Jul 2009

65.5 59.3

Aug 2009

65.4 59.1

Sep 2009

65.1 58.7

Oct 2009

65.0 58.5

Nov 2009

65.0 58.6

Dec 2009

64.6 58.3

Jan 2010

64.8 58.5

Feb 2010

64.9 58.5

Mar 2010

64.9 58.5

Apr 2010

65.2 58.7

May 2010

64.9 58.6

Jun 2010

64.6 58.5

Jul 2010

64.6 58.5

Aug 2010

64.7 58.6

Sep 2010

64.6 58.5

Oct 2010

64.4 58.3

Nov 2010

64.6 58.2

Dec 2010

64.3 58.3

Jan 2011

64.2 58.3

Feb 2011

64.2 58.4

Mar 2011

64.2 58.4

Apr 2011

64.2 58.4

May 2011

64.1 58.4

Jun 2011

64.0 58.2

Jul 2011

64.0 58.2

Aug 2011

64.1 58.3

Sep 2011

64.2 58.4

Oct 2011

64.1 58.4

Nov 2011

64.1 58.6

Dec 2011

64.0 58.6

Jan 2012

63.7 58.5

Feb 2012

63.8 58.5

Mar 2012

63.8 58.6

Apr 2012

63.7 58.5

May 2012

63.8 58.5

Jun 2012

63.8 58.6

Jul 2012

63.7 58.5

Aug 2012

63.5 58.4

Sep 2012

63.6 58.6

Oct 2012

63.7 58.8

Nov 2012

63.6 58.7

Dec 2012

63.7 58.6

Jan 2013

63.7 58.6

Feb 2013

63.5 58.6

Mar 2013

63.3 58.5

Apr 2013

63.4 58.6

May 2013

63.4 58.6

Jun 2013

63.4 58.7

Jul 2013

63.3 58.7

Aug 2013

63.2 58.7

Sep 2013

63.2 58.6

Oct 2013

62.8 58.2

Nov 2013

63.0 58.6

Dec 2013

62.8 58.6

Jan 2014

63.0 58.8

Feb 2014

63.0 58.8

Mar 2014

63.2 59.0

Apr 2014

62.8 58.9

May 2014

62.8 58.9

Jun 2014

62.8 59.0

Jul 2014

62.9 59.0

Aug 2014

62.9 59.0

Sep 2014

62.7 59.0

Oct 2014

62.8 59.2

Nov 2014

62.9 59.2

Dec 2014

62.7 59.2

Jan 2015

62.9 59.3

Feb 2015

62.8 59.3

Mar 2015

62.7 59.3

Apr 2015

62.8 59.3

May 2015

62.9 59.4

The number of people unemployed for less than 5 weeks decreased by 311,000 to 2.4 million in May, following an increase in April. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) held at 2.5 million in May and accounted for 28.6 percent of the unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed declined by 849,000.

Number of unemployed people by duration of unemployment, seasonally adjusted, May 2006–May 2015
Month Less than 5 weeks 5 to 14 weeks 15 to 26 weeks 27 Weeks & over

May 2006

2,545,000 2,189,000 969,000 1,333,000

Jun 2006

2,705,000 2,076,000 982,000 1,145,000

Jul 2006

2,721,000 2,126,000 986,000 1,304,000

Aug 2006

2,603,000 2,246,000 987,000 1,306,000

Sep 2006

2,608,000 2,053,000 986,000 1,245,000

Oct 2006

2,616,000 2,103,000 984,000 1,078,000

Nov 2006

2,511,000 2,212,000 1,028,000 1,131,000

Dec 2006

2,596,000 2,047,000 990,000 1,093,000

Jan 2007

2,561,000 2,267,000 1,015,000 1,141,000

Feb 2007

2,574,000 2,168,000 962,000 1,249,000

Mar 2007

2,307,000 2,138,000 1,010,000 1,245,000

Apr 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

Jun 2007

2,551,000 2,134,000 1,138,000 1,143,000

Jul 2007

2,502,000 2,203,000 1,073,000 1,291,000

Aug 2007

2,614,000 2,156,000 1,086,000 1,246,000

Sep 2007

2,557,000 2,292,000 1,091,000 1,264,000

Oct 2007

2,545,000 2,502,000 1,003,000 1,298,000

Nov 2007

2,645,000 2,241,000 992,000 1,374,000

Dec 2007

2,718,000 2,376,000 1,177,000 1,324,000

Jan 2008

2,554,000 2,406,000 1,152,000 1,388,000

Feb 2008

2,653,000 2,370,000 1,116,000 1,329,000

Mar 2008

2,823,000 2,537,000 1,168,000 1,323,000

Apr 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

Jun 2008

2,753,000 3,016,000 1,337,000 1,576,000

Jul 2008

2,854,000 2,833,000 1,450,000 1,664,000

Aug 2008

3,256,000 2,758,000 1,554,000 1,866,000

Sep 2008

2,848,000 3,035,000 1,599,000 2,027,000

Oct 2008

3,170,000 3,055,000 1,710,000 2,280,000

Nov 2008

3,335,000 3,260,000 1,704,000 2,219,000

Dec 2008

3,255,000 3,498,000 1,936,000 2,610,000

Jan 2009

3,524,000 3,662,000 2,065,000 2,699,000

Feb 2009

3,450,000 3,936,000 2,456,000 2,999,000

Mar 2009

3,465,000 4,122,000 2,625,000 3,260,000

Apr 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

Jun 2009

3,114,000 4,052,000 3,488,000 4,349,000

Jul 2009

3,137,000 3,505,000 2,923,000 4,917,000

Aug 2009

2,940,000 3,927,000 2,791,000 5,037,000

Sep 2009

2,841,000 3,775,000 2,908,000 5,494,000

Oct 2009

3,223,000 3,552,000 3,006,000 5,643,000

Nov 2009

2,816,000 3,457,000 2,847,000 5,908,000

Dec 2009

2,879,000 3,457,000 2,712,000 6,122,000

Jan 2010

2,921,000 3,390,000 2,574,000 6,319,000

Feb 2010

2,807,000 3,390,000 2,793,000 6,129,000

Mar 2010

2,769,000 3,294,000 2,542,000 6,545,000

Apr 2010

2,725,000 3,086,000 2,330,000 6,800,000

May 2010

2,773,000 3,127,000 2,260,000 6,638,000

Jun 2010

2,683,000 3,159,000 2,284,000 6,623,000

Jul 2010

2,806,000 2,972,000 2,208,000 6,506,000

Aug 2010

2,671,000 3,534,000 2,162,000 6,259,000

Sep 2010

2,819,000 3,308,000 2,291,000 6,163,000

Oct 2010

2,655,000 3,345,000 2,387,000 6,227,000

Nov 2010

2,912,000 3,321,000 2,370,000 6,326,000

Dec 2010

2,693,000 3,169,000 2,120,000 6,429,000

Jan 2011

2,678,000 3,026,000 2,211,000 6,202,000

Feb 2011

2,470,000 3,106,000 2,267,000 5,919,000

Mar 2011

2,535,000 2,979,000 2,056,000 6,110,000

Apr 2011

2,789,000 2,979,000 2,073,000 5,931,000

May 2011

2,670,000 2,928,000 2,047,000 6,151,000

Jun 2011

2,940,000 2,987,000 1,897,000 6,233,000

Jul 2011

2,635,000 2,942,000 2,002,000 6,166,000

Aug 2011

2,643,000 2,992,000 2,204,000 6,033,000

Sep 2011

2,754,000 2,881,000 2,022,000 6,280,000

Oct 2011

2,666,000 3,253,000 1,944,000 5,856,000

Nov 2011

2,557,000 2,913,000 2,018,000 5,692,000

Dec 2011

2,676,000 2,870,000 1,967,000 5,599,000

Jan 2012

2,464,000 2,900,000 1,940,000 5,503,000

Feb 2012

2,610,000 2,828,000 2,027,000 5,298,000

Mar 2012

2,710,000 2,795,000 1,935,000 5,247,000

Apr 2012

2,628,000 2,859,000 1,919,000 5,130,000

May 2012

2,552,000 3,040,000 1,696,000 5,389,000

Jun 2012

2,750,000 2,809,000 1,849,000 5,358,000

Jul 2012

2,678,000 3,000,000 1,780,000 5,188,000

Aug 2012

2,790,000 2,825,000 1,844,000 5,033,000

Sep 2012

2,538,000 2,808,000 1,865,000 4,889,000

Oct 2012

2,623,000 2,866,000 1,769,000 5,019,000

Nov 2012

2,625,000 2,774,000 1,776,000 4,781,000

Dec 2012

2,745,000 2,887,000 1,886,000 4,771,000

Jan 2013

2,757,000 3,107,000 1,862,000 4,683,000

Feb 2013

2,712,000 2,769,000 1,723,000 4,695,000

Mar 2013

2,478,000 2,840,000 1,773,000 4,531,000

Apr 2013

2,502,000 2,870,000 1,934,000 4,381,000

May 2013

2,664,000 2,666,000 1,962,000 4,349,000

Jun 2013

2,679,000 2,852,000 1,917,000 4,352,000

Jul 2013

2,507,000 2,790,000 1,791,000 4,269,000

Aug 2013

2,477,000 2,725,000 1,712,000 4,297,000

Sep 2013

2,609,000 2,657,000 1,817,000 4,138,000

Oct 2013

2,798,000 2,659,000 1,772,000 4,046,000

Nov 2013

2,420,000 2,581,000 1,719,000 4,059,000

Dec 2013

2,323,000 2,525,000 1,680,000 3,877,000

Jan 2014

2,449,000 2,428,000 1,699,000 3,628,000

Feb 2014

2,388,000 2,558,000 1,597,000 3,804,000

Mar 2014

2,477,000 2,584,000 1,669,000 3,682,000

Apr 2014

2,451,000 2,346,000 1,509,000 3,413,000

May 2014

2,553,000 2,401,000 1,451,000 3,351,000

Jun 2014

2,423,000 2,418,000 1,516,000 3,076,000

Jul 2014

2,583,000 2,435,000 1,423,000 3,166,000

Aug 2014

2,609,000 2,444,000 1,500,000 2,966,000

Sep 2014

2,372,000 2,495,000 1,423,000 2,951,000

Oct 2014

2,455,000 2,322,000 1,416,000 2,904,000

Nov 2014

2,505,000 2,378,000 1,403,000 2,822,000

Dec 2014

2,375,000 2,293,000 1,274,000 2,785,000

Jan 2015

2,383,000 2,318,000 1,380,000 2,800,000

Feb 2015

2,431,000 2,223,000 1,335,000 2,709,000

Mar 2015

2,488,000 2,312,000 1,253,000 2,563,000

Apr 2015

2,729,000 2,307,000 1,139,000 2,525,000

May 2015

2,418,000 2,532,000 1,293,000 2,502,000

These data come from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see “The Employment Situation — May 2015” (HTML) (PDF). For more charts featuring Current Population Survey data, see Charting the labor market: Data from the Current Population Survey (PDF). The labor force participation rate is the labor force as a percent of the population. The employment–population ratio is the employed as a percent of the population.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Labor force participation rate little changed at 62.9% in May 2015 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/labor-force-participation-rate-little-changed-in-may-2015.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

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