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1.7 million people had been unemployed 27 weeks or more in April 2025

May 13, 2025

In April 2025, 1.7 million people had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more, an increase of 179,000 from the previous month. This duration of joblessness is considered long-term unemployment.

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Chart Data

Duration of unemployment
Month	Less than 5 weeks	5–14 weeks	15–26 weeks	27 weeks and over
Apr 2015	2,716,000	2,345,000	1,091,000	2,560,000
May 2015	2,471,000	2,510,000	1,256,000	2,503,000
Jun 2015	2,309,000	2,396,000	1,398,000	2,162,000
Jul 2015	2,574,000	2,222,000	1,261,000	2,127,000
Aug 2015	2,073,000	2,329,000	1,283,000	2,172,000
Sep 2015	2,364,000	2,274,000	1,234,000	2,097,000
Oct 2015	2,372,000	2,277,000	1,212,000	2,130,000
Nov 2015	2,382,000	2,296,000	1,273,000	2,074,000
Dec 2015	2,399,000	2,191,000	1,232,000	2,127,000
Jan 2016	2,166,000	2,290,000	1,136,000	2,081,000
Feb 2016	2,235,000	2,187,000	1,163,000	2,150,000
Mar 2016	2,419,000	2,168,000	1,148,000	2,231,000
Apr 2016	2,594,000	2,132,000	1,209,000	2,147,000
May 2016	2,264,000	2,264,000	1,096,000	1,925,000
Jun 2016	2,396,000	2,195,000	1,117,000	1,986,000
Jul 2016	2,203,000	2,282,000	1,222,000	1,943,000
Aug 2016	2,285,000	2,352,000	1,094,000	1,970,000
Sep 2016	2,600,000	2,288,000	1,184,000	1,933,000
Oct 2016	2,434,000	2,273,000	1,190,000	1,946,000
Nov 2016	2,404,000	2,163,000	1,108,000	1,865,000
Dec 2016	2,354,000	2,117,000	1,241,000	1,860,000
Jan 2017	2,424,000	2,034,000	1,197,000	1,866,000
Feb 2017	2,511,000	2,129,000	1,032,000	1,803,000
Mar 2017	2,327,000	2,071,000	1,024,000	1,677,000
Apr 2017	2,324,000	2,070,000	979,000	1,709,000
May 2017	2,116,000	1,970,000	1,075,000	1,721,000
Jun 2017	2,321,000	1,924,000	916,000	1,654,000
Jul 2017	2,075,000	2,026,000	1,018,000	1,720,000
Aug 2017	2,258,000	2,065,000	1,107,000	1,687,000
Sep 2017	2,245,000	1,905,000	1,024,000	1,683,000
Oct 2017	2,126,000	1,961,000	925,000	1,609,000
Nov 2017	2,278,000	1,886,000	987,000	1,589,000
Dec 2017	2,237,000	1,966,000	932,000	1,516,000
Jan 2018	2,214,000	1,895,000	952,000	1,467,000
Feb 2018	2,469,000	1,893,000	873,000	1,432,000
Mar 2018	2,303,000	2,002,000	795,000	1,345,000
Apr 2018	2,142,000	1,994,000	888,000	1,375,000
May 2018	1,997,000	1,942,000	935,000	1,233,000
Jun 2018	2,269,000	1,865,000	881,000	1,404,000
Jul 2018	1,968,000	1,804,000	1,006,000	1,416,000
Aug 2018	2,241,000	1,730,000	995,000	1,287,000
Sep 2018	2,074,000	1,731,000	936,000	1,351,000
Oct 2018	2,055,000	1,840,000	920,000	1,348,000
Nov 2018	2,168,000	1,807,000	904,000	1,228,000
Dec 2018	2,149,000	2,033,000	934,000	1,306,000
Jan 2019	2,336,000	1,980,000	881,000	1,287,000
Feb 2019	2,252,000	1,772,000	894,000	1,283,000
Mar 2019	2,174,000	1,862,000	906,000	1,264,000
Apr 2019	1,966,000	1,875,000	783,000	1,230,000
May 2019	2,114,000	1,550,000	784,000	1,299,000
Jun 2019	1,889,000	1,805,000	835,000	1,333,000
Jul 2019	2,110,000	1,831,000	898,000	1,227,000
Aug 2019	2,268,000	1,710,000	847,000	1,257,000
Sep 2019	1,849,000	1,743,000	846,000	1,338,000
Oct 2019	1,922,000	1,760,000	915,000	1,291,000
Nov 2019	2,067,000	1,721,000	887,000	1,208,000
Dec 2019	2,090,000	1,784,000	829,000	1,188,000
Jan 2020	2,050,000	1,752,000	887,000	1,176,000
Feb 2020	2,088,000	1,780,000	789,000	1,110,000
Mar 2020	3,422,000	1,845,000	784,000	1,140,000
Apr 2020	14,263,000	7,066,000	782,000	910,000
May 2020	3,867,000	14,806,000	1,061,000	1,147,000
Jun 2020	2,909,000	11,522,000	1,917,000	1,355,000
Jul 2020	3,140,000	5,145,000	6,468,000	1,544,000
Aug 2020	2,316,000	3,105,000	6,506,000	1,632,000
Sep 2020	2,557,000	2,735,000	4,918,000	2,445,000
Oct 2020	2,480,000	2,342,000	2,625,000	3,591,000
Nov 2020	2,491,000	2,440,000	1,886,000	3,924,000
Dec 2020	2,913,000	2,344,000	1,574,000	3,967,000
Jan 2021	2,287,000	2,472,000	1,349,000	4,032,000
Feb 2021	2,197,000	2,212,000	1,380,000	4,143,000
Mar 2021	2,177,000	1,972,000	1,395,000	4,171,000
Apr 2021	2,411,000	1,986,000	1,240,000	4,082,000
May 2021	1,997,000	2,181,000	1,296,000	3,707,000
Jun 2021	2,001,000	2,177,000	1,327,000	3,988,000
Jul 2021	2,245,000	1,851,000	1,160,000	3,477,000
Aug 2021	2,082,000	1,932,000	1,167,000	3,189,000
Sep 2021	2,249,000	1,728,000	1,001,000	2,714,000
Oct 2021	2,065,000	1,876,000	974,000	2,371,000
Nov 2021	1,993,000	1,679,000	884,000	2,181,000
Dec 2021	1,985,000	1,596,000	794,000	1,993,000
Jan 2022	2,469,000	1,610,000	850,000	1,656,000
Feb 2022	2,125,000	1,769,000	736,000	1,689,000
Mar 2022	2,302,000	1,706,000	614,000	1,380,000
Apr 2022	2,279,000	1,603,000	628,000	1,386,000
May 2022	2,030,000	1,760,000	741,000	1,294,000
Jun 2022	2,256,000	1,525,000	750,000	1,355,000
Jul 2022	2,084,000	1,858,000	697,000	1,120,000
Aug 2022	2,190,000	1,845,000	808,000	1,231,000
Sep 2022	2,168,000	1,627,000	863,000	1,118,000
Oct 2022	2,204,000	1,803,000	769,000	1,214,000
Nov 2022	2,253,000	1,663,000	795,000	1,244,000
Dec 2022	2,229,000	1,645,000	821,000	1,073,000
Jan 2023	1,941,000	1,796,000	921,000	1,087,000
Feb 2023	2,272,000	1,841,000	814,000	1,056,000
Mar 2023	2,275,000	1,746,000	792,000	1,061,000
Apr 2023	1,869,000	1,915,000	772,000	1,079,000
May 2023	2,079,000	1,869,000	907,000	1,142,000
Jun 2023	2,082,000	1,833,000	895,000	1,121,000
Jul 2023	1,994,000	1,745,000	960,000	1,196,000
Aug 2023	2,198,000	1,931,000	921,000	1,369,000
Sep 2023	2,066,000	2,056,000	1,040,000	1,242,000
Oct 2023	2,285,000	1,835,000	1,031,000	1,331,000
Nov 2023	2,075,000	2,061,000	976,000	1,170,000
Dec 2023	2,204,000	1,794,000	1,072,000	1,273,000
Jan 2024	2,143,000	1,852,000	877,000	1,272,000
Feb 2024	2,339,000	1,942,000	970,000	1,213,000
Mar 2024	2,206,000	1,977,000	980,000	1,254,000
Apr 2024	2,273,000	1,990,000	879,000	1,253,000
May 2024	2,309,000	1,922,000	964,000	1,348,000
Jun 2024	2,130,000	2,108,000	1,066,000	1,533,000
Jul 2024	2,348,000	2,162,000	1,078,000	1,543,000
Aug 2024	2,465,000	2,029,000	1,153,000	1,545,000
Sep 2024	2,139,000	1,987,000	1,133,000	1,614,000
Oct 2024	2,109,000	2,082,000	1,231,000	1,608,000
Nov 2024	2,208,000	2,063,000	1,236,000	1,654,000
Dec 2024	2,156,000	1,997,000	1,207,000	1,551,000
Jan 2025	2,290,000	1,935,000	1,161,000	1,443,000
Feb 2025	2,337,000	2,152,000	1,031,000	1,455,000
Mar 2025	2,362,000	2,146,000	1,006,000	1,495,000
Apr 2025	2,185,000	2,269,000	988,000	1,674,000
Note: Data are seasonally adjusted.

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The number of people unemployed for 15 to 26 weeks was 988,000 in April, while the number jobless for 5 to 14 weeks was 2.3 million. There were 2.2 million people out of work for less than 5 weeks in April 2025.

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Chart Data

Unemployed 27 weeks or longer as a percent of total unemployed
Month	Percent
Apr 2015	29.4
May 2015	28.6
Jun 2015	26.2
Jul 2015	26.0
Aug 2015	27.6
Sep 2015	26.3
Oct 2015	26.7
Nov 2015	25.8
Dec 2015	26.8
Jan 2016	27.1
Feb 2016	27.8
Mar 2016	28.0
Apr 2016	26.6
May 2016	25.5
Jun 2016	25.8
Jul 2016	25.4
Aug 2016	25.6
Sep 2016	24.2
Oct 2016	24.8
Nov 2016	24.7
Dec 2016	24.6
Jan 2017	24.8
Feb 2017	24.1
Mar 2017	23.6
Apr 2017	24.1
May 2017	25.0
Jun 2017	24.3
Jul 2017	25.2
Aug 2017	23.7
Sep 2017	24.5
Oct 2017	24.3
Nov 2017	23.6
Dec 2017	22.8
Jan 2018	22.5
Feb 2018	21.5
Mar 2018	20.9
Apr 2018	21.5
May 2018	20.2
Jun 2018	21.9
Jul 2018	22.9
Aug 2018	20.6
Sep 2018	22.2
Oct 2018	21.9
Nov 2018	20.1
Dec 2018	20.3
Jan 2019	19.8
Feb 2019	20.7
Mar 2019	20.4
Apr 2019	21.0
May 2019	22.6
Jun 2019	22.7
Jul 2019	20.2
Aug 2019	20.7
Sep 2019	23.2
Oct 2019	21.9
Nov 2019	20.5
Dec 2019	20.2
Jan 2020	20.0
Feb 2020	19.2
Mar 2020	15.9
Apr 2020	4.0
May 2020	5.5
Jun 2020	7.7
Jul 2020	9.5
Aug 2020	12.0
Sep 2020	19.3
Oct 2020	32.5
Nov 2020	36.5
Dec 2020	36.7
Jan 2021	39.8
Feb 2021	41.7
Mar 2021	42.9
Apr 2021	42.0
May 2021	40.4
Jun 2021	42.0
Jul 2021	39.8
Aug 2021	38.1
Sep 2021	35.3
Oct 2021	32.5
Nov 2021	32.4
Dec 2021	31.3
Jan 2022	25.2
Feb 2022	26.7
Mar 2022	23.0
Apr 2022	23.5
May 2022	22.2
Jun 2022	23.0
Jul 2022	19.4
Aug 2022	20.3
Sep 2022	19.4
Oct 2022	20.3
Nov 2022	20.9
Dec 2022	18.6
Jan 2023	18.9
Feb 2023	17.6
Mar 2023	18.1
Apr 2023	19.1
May 2023	19.0
Jun 2023	18.9
Jul 2023	20.3
Aug 2023	21.3
Sep 2023	19.4
Oct 2023	20.5
Nov 2023	18.6
Dec 2023	20.1
Jan 2024	20.7
Feb 2024	18.8
Mar 2024	19.5
Apr 2024	19.6
May 2024	20.6
Jun 2024	22.4
Jul 2024	21.6
Aug 2024	21.5
Sep 2024	23.5
Oct 2024	22.9
Nov 2024	23.1
Dec 2024	22.4
Jan 2025	21.1
Feb 2025	20.9
Mar 2025	21.3
Apr 2025	23.5
Note: Data are seasonally adjusted.

The long-term unemployed made up 23.5 percent of the jobless in April 2025, higher than 21.3 percent in the previous month and 19.6 percent in April 2024.

These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted. For more information, see “The Employment Situation — April 2025.” We also have more charts on employment and unemployment.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, 1.7 million people had been unemployed 27 weeks or more in April 2025 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2025/1-7-million-people-had-been-unemployed-27-weeks-or-more-in-april-2025.htm (visited May 14, 2025).

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