11.4 percent of unemployed in July 2023 were on temporary layoff

The unemployment rate, at 3.5 percent, was little changed in July 2023 and has ranged from 3.4 percent to 3.7 percent since March 2022. The number of people unemployed stood at 5.8 million, also little changed over the month. Of these, 667,000, or 11.4 percent, were on a temporary layoff from their job in July 2023. This was down from 842,000, or 14.0 percent of all unemployed persons, a month earlier. The percentage of unemployed people on temporary layoff went from 13.4 percent in February 2020 to 78.3 percent in April 2020 before returning to pre-pandemic averages.

Those that lost their job and were not on a temporary layoff made up 33.5 percent of the unemployed in July 2023. People that left their job voluntarily accounted for 14.6 percent. More than 40 percent of the unemployed were reentering the workforce after an absence or were new entrants in search of their first job.

People are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work. There are four unemployment categories: job losers, job leavers, reentrants, and new entrants. Job losers consists of two groups, people on temporary layoff and not on temporary layoff. Job leavers include those who quit or voluntarily ended their jobs and immediately began searching for a new job. Reentrants previously worked but were out of the labor force before they began their job search.  New entrants are looking for their first job and have no previous work experience.

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. For more information, see “The Employment Situation — July 2023.” We also have more charts on employment and unemployment.