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Unemployment rate 2.5 percent for college grads, 7.7 percent for high school dropouts, January 2017

February 07, 2017

The unemployment rate in January 2017 was 4.8 percent, little changed from the rates in December 2016 or January 2016. Among people age 25 and older with a bachelor's degree or more education, the unemployment rate was 2.5 percent in January 2017, the same as a year earlier.

Unemployment rate by educational attainment, age 25 and over, seasonally adjusted
     Month      Educational attainment
Less than a high school diploma High school graduates, no college Some college or associate degree Bachelor's degree and higher

Jan 2007

6.9% 4.3% 3.8% 2.1%

Feb 2007

7.3 4.3 3.6 1.9

Mar 2007

6.9 4.0 3.6 1.8

Apr 2007

7.1 4.1 3.6 1.9

May 2007

6.6 4.4 3.4 2.0

Jun 2007

6.7 4.1 3.5 2.0

Jul 2007

7.3 4.6 3.6 2.1

Aug 2007

6.5 4.4 3.6 2.1

Sep 2007

7.6 4.5 3.4 2.0

Oct 2007

7.3 4.6 3.5 2.1

Nov 2007

7.7 4.5 3.3 2.2

Dec 2007

7.7 4.7 3.8 2.1

Jan 2008

7.7 4.7 3.7 2.1

Feb 2008

7.4 4.7 3.8 2.0

Mar 2008

8.4 5.1 3.9 2.1

Apr 2008

7.7 5.0 4.0 2.1

May 2008

8.1 5.0 4.3 2.2

Jun 2008

8.7 5.1 4.3 2.4

Jul 2008

8.6 5.4 4.6 2.5

Aug 2008

9.7 5.8 4.9 2.8

Sep 2008

9.8 6.2 5.0 2.6

Oct 2008

10.3 6.4 5.2 3.1

Nov 2008

10.8 7.0 5.5 3.2

Dec 2008

11.1 7.8 5.7 3.6

Jan 2009

12.4 8.2 6.5 3.9

Feb 2009

13.2 8.5 7.3 4.1

Mar 2009

14.0 9.2 7.5 4.3

Apr 2009

14.9 9.5 7.7 4.4

May 2009

15.2 10.0 7.8 4.8

Jun 2009

15.6 9.7 8.1 4.8

Jul 2009

15.3 9.5 8.0 4.8

Aug 2009

15.6 9.7 8.1 4.8

Sep 2009

14.9 10.6 8.3 5.0

Oct 2009

15.2 11.0 8.7 4.7

Nov 2009

14.7 10.3 8.8 4.8

Dec 2009

15.0 10.6 8.7 4.9

Jan 2010

15.3 10.2 8.6 4.9

Feb 2010

15.8 10.7 8.1 4.9

Mar 2010

14.9 11.0 8.4 4.9

Apr 2010

14.7 10.8 8.4 4.8

May 2010

14.6 10.9 8.2 4.6

Jun 2010

14.2 10.6 8.1 4.4

Jul 2010

13.5 10.0 8.3 4.5

Aug 2010

14.1 10.0 8.7 4.6

Sep 2010

15.6 9.7 8.9 4.5

Oct 2010

15.0 9.8 8.2 4.6

Nov 2010

15.4 10.0 8.6 5.0

Dec 2010

15.0 9.8 8.1 4.8

Jan 2011

14.3 9.5 8.1 4.3

Feb 2011

14.0 9.7 7.9 4.3

Mar 2011

14.1 9.7 7.5 4.4

Apr 2011

14.7 9.9 7.5 4.5

May 2011

14.5 9.6 7.8 4.5

Jun 2011

14.4 10.0 8.3 4.3

Jul 2011

14.5 9.1 8.3 4.2

Aug 2011

14.1 9.3 8.3 4.2

Sep 2011

14.3 9.4 8.5 4.2

Oct 2011

13.5 9.4 8.1 4.3

Nov 2011

12.8 8.8 7.7 4.4

Dec 2011

13.7 8.7 7.6 4.1

Jan 2012

13.0 8.5 7.1 4.3

Feb 2012

13.1 8.3 7.2 4.2

Mar 2012

12.8 8.1 7.5 4.1

Apr 2012

12.5 8.0 7.6 4.0

May 2012

12.9 8.3 7.7 3.9

Jun 2012

12.6 8.6 7.3 4.0

Jul 2012

12.4 8.5 7.2 4.1

Aug 2012

11.8 8.6 6.7 4.1

Sep 2012

11.7 8.5 6.6 4.0

Oct 2012

12.1 8.3 6.9 3.7

Nov 2012

12.0 8.0 6.5 3.9

Dec 2012

11.8 8.0 6.9 4.0

Jan 2013

12.0 8.2 6.9 3.8

Feb 2013

11.3 7.9 6.5 3.9

Mar 2013

11.1 7.7 6.3 3.8

Apr 2013

11.5 7.4 6.3 3.9

May 2013

10.9 7.4 6.5 3.9

Jun 2013

10.7 7.7 6.5 3.8

Jul 2013

10.7 7.5 6.1 3.8

Aug 2013

11.1 7.4 6.1 3.4

Sep 2013

10.6 7.6 6.1 3.7

Oct 2013

10.9 7.2 6.4 3.7

Nov 2013

10.7 7.2 6.4 3.4

Dec 2013

10.0 7.0 6.2 3.3

Jan 2014

9.6 6.5 5.8 3.3

Feb 2014

9.9 6.4 6.0 3.4

Mar 2014

9.4 6.3 6.0 3.4

Apr 2014

8.6 6.2 5.7 3.3

May 2014

9.1 6.5 5.6 3.2

Jun 2014

9.1 5.9 5.2 3.3

Jul 2014

9.4 6.1 5.3 3.1

Aug 2014

9.1 6.2 5.3 3.2

Sep 2014

8.3 5.3 5.4 2.9

Oct 2014

8.0 5.7 4.9 3.0

Nov 2014

8.7 5.7 4.9 3.2

Dec 2014

8.8 5.2 5.0 2.8

Jan 2015

8.5 5.5 5.2 2.8

Feb 2015

8.3 5.4 5.0 2.7

Mar 2015

8.5 5.3 4.8 2.4

Apr 2015

8.4 5.4 4.7 2.7

May 2015

8.6 5.8 4.4 2.8

Jun 2015

8.1 5.4 4.2 2.5

Jul 2015

8.2 5.5 4.4 2.5

Aug 2015

7.7 5.5 4.3 2.4

Sep 2015

7.8 5.2 4.2 2.5

Oct 2015

7.4 5.2 4.4 2.5

Nov 2015

6.9 5.4 4.4 2.5

Dec 2015

6.7 5.5 4.2 2.5

Jan 2016

7.4 5.3 4.2 2.5

Feb 2016

7.3 5.3 4.2 2.5

Mar 2016

7.4 5.4 4.1 2.6

Apr 2016

7.5 5.4 4.1 2.4

May 2016

7.2 5.1 3.8 2.4

Jun 2016

7.5 5.1 4.2 2.6

Jul 2016

6.3 5.0 4.2 2.5

Aug 2016

7.3 5.1 4.2 2.7

Sep 2016

8.5 5.2 4.2 2.5

Oct 2016

7.4 5.5 3.8 2.6

Nov 2016

7.9 4.9 3.9 2.3

Dec 2016

7.9 5.1 3.8 2.5

Jan 2017

7.7 5.3 3.8 2.5

For people with some college or an associate degree, the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in January 2017 and 4.2 percent a year earlier.

Among workers age 25 and older who graduated high school but did not attend college, the unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in January 2017, the same as a year earlier. 

For workers with less than a high school diploma, the unemployment rate was 7.7 percent in January 2017, little different from the rate in January 2016.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see "The Employment Situation — January 2017" (HTML) (PDF). Also see Charts related to the latest "The Employment Situation" news release.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Unemployment rate 2.5 percent for college grads, 7.7 percent for high school dropouts, January 2017 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/unemployment-rate-2-point-5-percent-for-college-grads-7-point-7-percent-for-high-school-dropouts-january-2017.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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