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The number of people who experienced some unemployment during 2018 declined by 1.3 million to 13.2 million. Their share of those who worked or looked for work during the year fell by 0.8 percentage point to 7.8 percent in 2018. That was the lowest rate in the history of the series. In 2018, 168.6 million people worked or looked for work at some time during the year, an increase of 1.1 million from 2017.
Year | Total | Men | Women | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Work-experience unemployment rate | Number who worked or looked for work during the year | Number of unemployed at some time during the year | Work-experience unemployment rate | Number who worked or looked for work during the year | Number of unemployed at some time during the year | Work-experience unemployment rate | Number who worked or looked for work during the year | Number of unemployed at some time during the year | ||||||||||
1958 |
17.9% | 78,787,000 | 14,120,000 | 19.6% | 49,158,000 | 9,645,000 | 15.1% | 29,628,000 | 4,474,000 | |||||||||
1959 |
15.3 | 79,494,000 | 12,195,000 | 16.5 | 49,523,000 | 8,163,000 | 13.5 | 29,971,000 | 4,032,000 | |||||||||
1960 |
17.2 | 82,204,000 | 14,151,000 | 18.4 | 50,686,000 | 9,318,000 | 15.3 | 31,518,000 | 4,833,000 | |||||||||
1961 |
18.4 | 81,963,000 | 15,096,000 | 19.4 | 50,610,000 | 9,846,000 | 16.7 | 31,353,000 | 5,250,000 | |||||||||
1962 |
18.2 | 83,944,000 | 15,256,000 | 18.8 | 51,412,000 | 9,686,000 | 17.1 | 32,532,000 | 5,570,000 | |||||||||
1963 |
16.7 | 85,038,000 | 14,211,000 | 17.2 | 51,817,000 | 8,923,000 | 15.9 | 33,221,000 | 5,288,000 | |||||||||
1964 |
16.2 | 86,837,000 | 14,052,000 | 16.3 | 52,645,000 | 8,563,000 | 16.1 | 34,192,000 | 5,489,000 | |||||||||
1965 |
14.1 | 87,591,000 | 12,334,000 | 14.0 | 52,958,000 | 7,428,000 | 14.2 | 34,633,000 | 4,906,000 | |||||||||
1966 |
13.0 | 87,540,000 | 11,387,000 | 12.5 | 52,103,000 | 6,503,000 | 13.8 | 35,437,000 | 4,884,000 | |||||||||
1967 |
12.9 | 89,432,000 | 11,564,000 | 12.6 | 52,788,000 | 6,655,000 | 13.4 | 36,644,000 | 4,909,000 | |||||||||
1968 |
12.4 | 91,480,000 | 11,332,000 | 11.7 | 53,677,000 | 6,263,000 | 13.4 | 37,803,000 | 5,069,000 | |||||||||
1969 |
12.5 | 93,640,000 | 11,744,000 | 12.3 | 54,755,000 | 6,709,000 | 12.9 | 38,885,000 | 5,035,000 | |||||||||
1970 |
15.3 | 95,576,000 | 14,615,000 | 15.5 | 55,714,000 | 8,642,000 | 15.0 | 39,862,000 | 5,973,000 | |||||||||
1971 |
16.3 | 97,652,000 | 15,950,000 | 16.4 | 57,091,000 | 9,372,000 | 16.2 | 40,561,000 | 6,579,000 | |||||||||
1972 |
15.5 | 99,730,000 | 15,436,000 | 15.3 | 58,170,000 | 8,881,000 | 15.8 | 41,559,000 | 6,555,000 | |||||||||
1973 |
14.3 | 102,747,000 | 14,697,000 | 13.5 | 59,355,000 | 8,032,000 | 15.4 | 43,392,000 | 6,665,000 | |||||||||
1974 |
17.9 | 104,769,000 | 18,785,000 | 17.3 | 60,114,000 | 10,421,000 | 18.7 | 44,655,000 | 8,364,000 | |||||||||
1975 |
20.2 | 105,843,000 | 21,402,000 | 20.0 | 60,413,000 | 12,101,000 | 20.5 | 45,430,000 | 9,302,000 | |||||||||
1976 |
19.1 | 108,783,000 | 20,795,000 | 18.8 | 61,556,000 | 11,587,000 | 19.5 | 47,225,000 | 9,208,000 | |||||||||
1977 |
17.9 | 111,531,000 | 19,910,000 | 17.5 | 62,674,000 | 10,949,000 | 18.3 | 48,858,000 | 8,960,000 | |||||||||
1978 |
15.9 | 114,464,000 | 18,185,000 | 15.4 | 63,804,000 | 9,822,000 | 16.5 | 50,660,000 | 8,363,000 | |||||||||
1979 |
15.8 | 116,983,000 | 18,468,000 | 15.5 | 64,739,000 | 10,042,000 | 16.1 | 52,244,000 | 8,426,000 | |||||||||
1980 |
18.1 | 118,348,000 | 21,410,000 | 18.5 | 65,277,000 | 12,072,000 | 17.6 | 53,071,000 | 9,338,000 | |||||||||
1981 |
19.5 | 119,658,000 | 23,382,000 | 20.0 | 65,950,000 | 13,175,000 | 19.0 | 53,708,000 | 10,207,000 | |||||||||
1982 |
22.0 | 120,235,000 | 26,493,000 | 23.3 | 66,160,000 | 15,441,000 | 20.4 | 54,074,000 | 11,052,000 | |||||||||
1983 |
19.6 | 121,503,000 | 23,762,000 | 21.0 | 66,350,000 | 13,919,000 | 17.8 | 55,153,000 | 9,842,000 | |||||||||
1984 |
17.4 | 124,117,000 | 21,535,000 | 18.1 | 67,234,000 | 12,174,000 | 16.5 | 56,883,000 | 9,361,000 | |||||||||
1985 |
16.7 | 125,890,000 | 20,984,000 | 17.2 | 68,270,000 | 11,754,000 | 16.0 | 57,620,000 | 9,230,000 | |||||||||
1986 |
16.2 | 128,143,000 | 20,703,000 | 16.9 | 69,225,000 | 11,688,000 | 15.3 | 58,918,000 | 9,015,000 | |||||||||
1987 |
14.1 | 130,353,000 | 18,399,000 | 15.0 | 69,995,000 | 10,504,000 | 13.1 | 60,357,000 | 7,895,000 | |||||||||
1988 |
12.9 | 132,185,000 | 17,096,000 | 13.7 | 70,738,000 | 9,696,000 | 12.0 | 61,447,000 | 7,400,000 | |||||||||
1989 |
12.9 | 133,444,000 | 17,257,000 | 13.7 | 71,475,000 | 9,778,000 | 12.1 | 61,970,000 | 7,480,000 | |||||||||
1990 |
14.7 | 134,436,000 | 19,786,000 | 15.7 | 71,959,000 | 11,294,000 | 13.6 | 62,477,000 | 8,492,000 | |||||||||
1991 |
15.7 | 134,985,000 | 21,256,000 | 17.5 | 72,109,000 | 12,625,000 | 13.7 | 62,876,000 | 8,631,000 | |||||||||
1992 |
15.8 | 135,822,000 | 21,441,000 | 17.7 | 72,607,000 | 12,833,000 | 13.6 | 63,214,000 | 8,607,000 | |||||||||
1993 |
14.8 | 138,895,000 | 20,516,000 | 15.9 | 73,689,000 | 11,712,000 | 13.5 | 65,206,000 | 8,804,000 | |||||||||
1994 |
13.5 | 140,441,000 | 18,944,000 | 14.2 | 74,418,000 | 10,565,000 | 12.7 | 66,023,000 | 8,379,000 | |||||||||
1995 |
12.8 | 141,659,000 | 18,063,000 | 13.3 | 74,982,000 | 9,992,000 | 12.1 | 66,677,000 | 8,070,000 | |||||||||
1996 |
11.7 | 143,708,000 | 16,786,000 | 12.0 | 76,035,000 | 9,153,000 | 11.3 | 67,673,000 | 7,632,000 | |||||||||
1997 |
10.8 | 145,323,000 | 15,623,000 | 11.2 | 76,704,000 | 8,594,000 | 10.2 | 68,619,000 | 7,029,000 | |||||||||
1998 |
9.6 | 146,570,000 | 14,042,000 | 9.5 | 77,047,000 | 7,282,000 | 9.7 | 69,523,000 | 6,760,000 | |||||||||
1999 |
8.8 | 149,042,000 | 13,050,000 | 9.0 | 78,236,000 | 7,073,000 | 8.4 | 70,806,000 | 5,976,000 | |||||||||
2000 |
8.6 | 152,417,000 | 13,041,000 | 9.0 | 80,287,000 | 7,199,000 | 8.1 | 72,130,000 | 5,842,000 | |||||||||
2001 |
10.4 | 152,300,000 | 15,834,000 | 11.1 | 80,304,000 | 8,919,000 | 9.6 | 71,996,000 | 6,915,000 | |||||||||
2002 |
11.0 | 153,411,000 | 16,802,000 | 11.9 | 80,933,000 | 9,603,000 | 9.9 | 72,478,000 | 7,199,000 | |||||||||
2003 |
10.7 | 153,448,000 | 16,444,000 | 11.5 | 81,023,000 | 9,321,000 | 9.8 | 72,425,000 | 7,122,000 | |||||||||
2004 |
9.7 | 154,796,000 | 15,077,000 | 10.1 | 81,759,000 | 8,249,000 | 9.3 | 73,037,000 | 6,828,000 | |||||||||
2005 |
9.3 | 156,744,000 | 14,531,000 | 9.7 | 83,230,000 | 8,090,000 | 8.8 | 73,514,000 | 6,441,000 | |||||||||
2006 |
9.1 | 158,563,000 | 14,424,000 | 9.6 | 84,100,000 | 8,097,000 | 8.5 | 74,463,000 | 6,326,000 | |||||||||
2007 |
9.5 | 159,750,000 | 15,117,000 | 10.3 | 84,614,000 | 8,685,000 | 8.6 | 75,136,000 | 6,432,000 | |||||||||
2008 |
13.2 | 160,658,000 | 21,205,000 | 14.5 | 84,781,000 | 12,306,000 | 11.7 | 75,878,000 | 8,899,000 | |||||||||
2009 |
16.4 | 159,776,000 | 26,135,000 | 18.8 | 84,396,000 | 15,864,000 | 13.6 | 75,380,000 | 10,271,000 | |||||||||
2010 |
15.9 | 158,882,000 | 25,241,000 | 17.7 | 84,000,000 | 14,880,000 | 13.8 | 74,882,000 | 10,360,000 | |||||||||
2011 |
14.9 | 159,693,000 | 23,739,000 | 15.8 | 83,715,000 | 13,262,000 | 13.8 | 75,978,000 | 10,477,000 | |||||||||
2012 |
13.9 | 161,707,000 | 22,423,000 | 14.5 | 84,999,000 | 12,352,000 | 13.1 | 76,708,000 | 10,071,000 | |||||||||
2013 |
12.9 | 161,813,000 | 20,880,000 | 13.5 | 85,032,000 | 11,521,000 | 12.2 | 76,781,000 | 9,359,000 | |||||||||
2014 |
10.9 | 162,757,000 | 17,708,000 | 11.4 | 85,602,000 | 9,784,000 | 10.3 | 77,156,000 | 7,924,000 | |||||||||
2015 |
10.2 | 165,495,000 | 16,925,000 | 10.4 | 87,149,000 | 9,063,000 | 10.0 | 78,347,000 | 7,862,000 | |||||||||
2016 |
9.4 | 166,221,000 | 15,570,000 | 9.5 | 87,368,000 | 8,300,000 | 9.2 | 78,853,000 | 7,270,000 | |||||||||
2017 |
8.6 | 167,538,000 | 14,461,000 | 9.0 | 88,360,000 | 7,921,000 | 8.3 | 79,177,000 | 6,540,000 | |||||||||
2018 |
7.8 | 168,617,000 | 13,171,000 | 8.2 | 88,364,000 | 7,210,000 | 7.4 | 80,253,000 | 5,962,000 | |||||||||
Notes: |
Among men who worked or looked for work in 2018, 8.2 percent experienced unemployment. They continued to have a higher rate than women, 7.4 percent. The rates for men and women were the lowest in the history of both series. From 2017 to 2018, the rate for men decreased by 0.8 percentage point, compared with a decrease of 0.9 percentage point for women.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see "Work Experience of the Population — 2018."
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, 7.8 percent of people who worked or looked for work experienced unemployment in 2018 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/7-point-8-percent-of-people-who-worked-or-looked-for-work-experienced-unemployment-in-2018.htm (visited December 07, 2024).