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Long-term unemployed down to 1.3 million in November

December 12, 2018

In November 2018, the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent for the third month in a row, and the number of unemployed persons was little changed at 6.0 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) declined by 120,000 to 1.3 million in November. These individuals accounted for 20.8 percent of the unemployed.

Duration of unemployment, seasonally adjusted
Month Less than 5 weeks 5–14 weeks 15–26 weeks 27 weeks and over

Nov 2007

2,645,000 2,241,000 992000 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

2,686,000 3,033,000 2,218,000 6,175,000

Feb 2011

2,469,000 3,118,000 2,284,000 5,892,000

Mar 2011

2,535,000 2,980,000 2,061,000 6,105,000

Apr 2011

2,787,000 2,987,000 2,090,000 5,925,000

May 2011

2,668,000 2,903,000 2,052,000 6,153,000

Jun 2011

2,933,000 2,987,000 1,871,000 6,271,000

Jul 2011

2,632,000 2,931,000 1,982,000 6,195,000

Aug 2011

2,650,000 2,989,000 2,199,000 6,048,000

Sep 2011

2,754,000 2,881,000 2,012,000 6,304,000

Oct 2011

2,668,000 3,250,000 1,964,000 5,838,000

Nov 2011

2,556,000 2,913,000 2,009,000 5,698,000

Dec 2011

2,678,000 2,873,000 1,959,000 5,586,000

Jan 2012

2,474,000 2,908,000 1,957,000 5,476,000

Feb 2012

2,610,000 2,848,000 2,051,000 5,242,000

Mar 2012

2,708,000 2,788,000 1,940,000 5,236,000

Apr 2012

2,624,000 2,878,000 1,940,000 5,132,000

May 2012

2,550,000 3,006,000 1,690,000 5,401,000

Jun 2012

2,747,000 2,806,000 1,817,000 5,409,000

Jul 2012

2,662,000 2,984,000 1,773,000 5,210,000

Aug 2012

2,784,000 2,811,000 1,846,000 5,042,000

Sep 2012

2,538,000 2,819,000 1,863,000 4,911,000

Oct 2012

2,635,000 2,859,000 1,796,000 4,988,000

Nov 2012

2,620,000 2,776,000 1,745,000 4,805,000

Dec 2012

2,756,000 2,901,000 1,861,000 4,768,000

Jan 2013

2,780,000 3,115,000 1,891,000 4,681,000

Feb 2013

2,713,000 2,799,000 1,766,000 4,691,000

Mar 2013

2,462,000 2,826,000 1,830,000 4,563,000

Apr 2013

2,487,000 2,908,000 1,953,000 4,468,000

May 2013

2,674,000 2,631,000 1,986,000 4,347,000

Jun 2013

2,680,000 2,851,000 1,876,000 4,355,000

Jul 2013

2,493,000 2,768,000 1,791,000 4,258,000

Aug 2013

2,475,000 2,688,000 1,677,000 4,296,000

Sep 2013

2,604,000 2,691,000 1,797,000 4,132,000

Oct 2013

2,823,000 2,639,000 1,737,000 4,024,000

Nov 2013

2,409,000 2,586,000 1,695,000 4,042,000

Dec 2013

2,328,000 2,545,000 1,676,000 3,863,000

Jan 2014

2,477,000 2,434,000 1,733,000 3,604,000

Feb 2014

2,391,000 2,593,000 1,616,000 3,782,000

Mar 2014

2,439,000 2,566,000 1,710,000 3,697,000

Apr 2014

2,418,000 2,390,000 1,508,000 3,468,000

May 2014

2,584,000 2,366,000 1,428,000 3,352,000

Jun 2014

2,420,000 2,428,000 1,502,000 3,118,000

Jul 2014

2,579,000 2,410,000 1,474,000 3,145,000

Aug 2014

2,619,000 2,383,000 1,501,000 2,965,000

Sep 2014

2,358,000 2,545,000 1,434,000 2,954,000

Oct 2014

2,494,000 2,292,000 1,392,000 2,901,000

Nov 2014

2,474,000 2,396,000 1,381,000 2,827,000

Dec 2014

2,371,000 2,317,000 1,263,000 2,801,000

Jan 2015

2,403,000 2,320,000 1,431,000 2,765,000

Feb 2015

2,435,000 2,240,000 1,329,000 2,656,000

Mar 2015

2,458,000 2,318,000 1,233,000 2,536,000

Apr 2015

2,691,000 2,382,000 1,102,000 2,545,000

May 2015

2,454,000 2,512,000 1,249,000 2,496,000

Jun 2015

2,322,000 2,396,000 1,392,000 2,169,000

Jul 2015

2,541,000 2,216,000 1,261,000 2,141,000

Aug 2015

2,079,000 2,304,000 1,283,000 2,179,000

Sep 2015

2,339,000 2,250,000 1,233,000 2,107,000

Oct 2015

2,358,000 2,273,000 1,202,000 2,146,000

Nov 2015

2,382,000 2,291,000 1,248,000 2,068,000

Dec 2015

2,399,000 2,197,000 1,229,000 2,128,000

Jan 2016

2,226,000 2,293,000 1,172,000 2,068,000

Feb 2016

2,283,000 2,224,000 1,140,000 2,137,000

Mar 2016

2,411,000 2,192,000 1,157,000 2,205,000

Apr 2016

2,575,000 2,158,000 1,265,000 2,085,000

May 2016

2,241,000 2,276,000 1,122,000 1,892,000

Jun 2016

2,410,000 2,185,000 1,146,000 2,025,000

Jul 2016

2,213,000 2,254,000 1,230,000 1,979,000

Aug 2016

2,309,000 2,284,000 1,082,000 1,990,000

Sep 2016

2,565,000 2,256,000 1,163,000 1,959,000

Oct 2016

2,418,000 2,271,000 1,160,000 1,982,000

Nov 2016

2,391,000 2,156,000 1,055,000 1,862,000

Dec 2016

2,359,000 2,136,000 1,191,000 1,869,000

Jan 2017

2,452,000 2,081,000 1,229,000 1,825,000

Feb 2017

2,572,000 2,129,000 1,047,000 1,766,000

Mar 2017

2,296,000 2,088,000 1,064,000 1,660,000

Apr 2017

2,300,000 2,140,000 1,087,000 1,633,000

May 2017

2,123,000 1,958,000 1,123,000 1,665,000

Jun 2017

2,301,000 1,942,000 937000 1,715,000

Jul 2017

2,135,000 2,006,000 1,022,000 1,757,000

Aug 2017

2,221,000 1,996,000 1,067,000 1,735,000

Sep 2017

2,223,000 1,879,000 962000 1,733,000

Oct 2017

2,128,000 1,943,000 856000 1,645,000

Nov 2017

2,253,000 1,894,000 921000 1,593,000

Dec 2017

2,235,000 1,994,000 882000 1,515,000

Jan 2018

2,280,000 1,943,000 981000 1,421,000

Feb 2018

2,508,000 1,906,000 934000 1,397,000

Mar 2018

2,287,000 2,009,000 880000 1,322,000

Apr 2018

2,115,000 2,017,000 1,036,000 1,293,000

May 2018

2,034,000 1,945,000 977000 1,189,000

Jun 2018

2,227,000 1,882,000 836000 1,478,000

Jul 2018

2,091,000 1,820,000 971000 1,435,000

Aug 2018

2,208,000 1,720,000 923000 1,332,000

Sep 2018

2,065,000 1,720,000 861000 1,384,000

Oct 2018

2,057,000 1,821,000 856000 1,373,000

Nov 2018

2,126,000 1,813,000 839000 1,253,000

In November, there were 2.1 million unemployed for less than 5 weeks, accounting for about 35 percent of all unemployed. About 1.8 million were unemployed for 5 to 14 weeks, accounting for about 30 percent of all unemployed.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see “The Employment Situation — November 2018.” We also have more charts on unemployment and the labor force.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Long-term unemployed down to 1.3 million in November at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/long-term-unemployed-down-to-1-point-3-million-in-november.htm (visited December 05, 2024).

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