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Each month BLS publishes the unemployment rate for the nation and for many demographic groups and geographic areas. Those rates reflect how many people were unemployed during the week containing the 12th day of the month. In other words, they didn’t have a job that week but actively looked for work during the prior 4 weeks and were available to take a job. Another perspective is how many people were unemployed at any time during the year.
There were 162.8 million people who worked or looked for work at some time in 2014. Of those, 17.7 million experienced some unemployment during the year, 3.2 million fewer than in 2013. The work-experience unemployment rate (those looking for work during the year as a percent of those who worked or looked for work during the year) continued to decline. At 10.9 percent in 2014, the work-experience unemployment rate was 2.0 percentage points lower than in 2013.
People unemployed at any time during the year as a percent of those who worked or looked for work
Characteristic
2013
2014
Total
12.9
10.9
Men
13.5
11.4
Women
12.2
10.3
White, total
12.1
10.0
Men
12.7
10.5
Women
11.5
9.5
Black or African American, total
18.7
15.6
Men
21.0
17.5
Women
16.7
13.9
Asian, total
9.9
9.1
Men
10.1
9.4
Women
9.8
8.7
Hispanic or Latino, total
15.7
13.5
Men
16.3
13.8
Women
14.9
13.1
Note: People whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.
The work-experience unemployment rates for Whites (10.0 percent), Blacks (15.6 percent), and Hispanics (13.5 percent) declined from 2013 to 2014, while the rate for Asians (9.1 percent) changed little.
Overall, men continued to have higher work-experience unemployment rates in 2014 than women, 11.4 percent versus 10.3 percent. Among Whites and Blacks, the rates for men were higher than the rates for women. Among Asians and Hispanics, the rates for men and women were about the same.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see "Work Experience of the Population — 2014" (HTML) (PDF). People whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.
United States Department of Labor
