• About WordPress
    • WordPress.org
    • Documentation
    • Learn WordPress
    • Support
    • Feedback
  • Log In
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Contact us
  • Related Sites
    • InflationData.com
    • Financial Trend Forecaster
    • Your Family Finances
    • Elliott Wave University
    • Optio Money
  • About
    • Terms of Use
    • Disclaimer & Disclosure
    • Privacy Statement
  • Sitemap
    • 2009-2010 Posts
    • 2011 Posts

UnemploymentData.com

Your Source for Employment and Unemployment Data

Unemployment
  • Charts
    • Current Unemployment Rate Chart
    • Current Employment Rate (Chart and Data)
    • Current Employment vs Unemployment Chart
    • Historical Employment Data
    • Employment Population Ratio
    • Misery Index
  • Unemployment
    • Historical Unemployment Rate Tables
    • What Is U-6 Unemployment?
    • Unadjusted vs. Seasonally Adjusted U-3 Unemployment Rate
    • BLS vs. Gallup Unemployment Numbers
    • Current U-6 Unemployment Rate
    • What is the Labor Force Participation Rate?
    • What is the Real Unemployment Rate?
  • Employment
    • Current Employment Rate (Chart and Data)
    • Historical Employment Data
    • Contacting a Live Person at the State Employment Commission
      • How to Talk to a Live Person at the Virginia Unemployment Commission
      • Florida’s FLUID Unemployment Program
    • Benefits
      • Insurance
      • Retirement
    • Careers
    • Employment Costs
    • Experience
    • Government
    • Job Hunting
      • Interview
      • Resume
  • Find Articles
  • Education
    • Skills
  • General
    • Small Business
      • Outsourcing
    • Success
You are here: Home / Charts / Current Employment Rate (Chart and Data)

Current Employment Rate (Chart and Data)

Current Employment Rate–

At 159.316  million in April, employment is up from the originally reported 158.506 million in March.

Typically, April shows a rise in employment. And that is exactly what we saw in 2025. Actual employment was up by 905,000, and unadjusted U3 was unchanged at 4.2%.

Historically, after January’s employment decline, employment moves almost straight up to a small peak around June with a slight drop in July, and then the highest peak in employment happens in November with a slight decline in December.

NOTE: According to the revised January 2025 numbers, the BLS OVERESTIMATED employment in November and December 2024 by more than 1/2 million each month, i.e.,  515,000 in December and 678,000 in November. In other words, over 1 million jobs originally reported in those two months went POOF with the stroke of a pen when they posted the numbers a month later. At the same time, the population ballooned by over 3 million when the numbers were updated.

Current Employment for Oct-24Employment data from the BLS’ Current Employment Statistics program

Employment is 1.878 million Above Year-Ago Levels
and 8.350 million above February 2020 (prior to the Covid Crash)

However, the Civilian Population has also increased by about 13.569 million since February 2020.

Note: The BLS has adjusted the Employment numbers multiple times over the years, beyond the 2-month adjustment period and the annual readjustment, so we include the numbers as originally posted along with the difference. The difference on several occasions is over a million jobs added to the originally reported numbers (in Blue).

Employment in Millions

The number in the right-hand column is how far off the original numbers were from their current numbers, (sometimes a million jobs difference). Such as, June 2018, August 2012, and December 2012.

Date Latest BLS Numbers
(in Millions)
Original BLS Numbers
(in Millions)
Change from Original
(in thousands)
Apr-2025 159.316 159.316 NA
Mar-2025 158.411 158.506 -95
Feb-2025 157.944 157.983 -39
Jan-2025 157.095 157.091 4
Dec-2024 159.943 160.458 -515
Nov-2024 159.882 160.560 -678
Oct-2024 159.352 160.007 -655
Sep-2024 158.527 159.177 -650
Aug-2024 158.070 158.650 -580
Jul-2024 157.771 158.445 -674
Jun-2024 158.722 159.392 -670
May-2024 158.256 158.918 -662
Apr-2024 157.438 158.016 -578
Mar-2024 156.612 157.218 -606
Feb-2024 156.007 156.555 -548
Jan-2024 154.942 155.626 -684
Dec-2023 157.828 158.228 -400
Nov-2023 157.950 158.461 -511
Oct-2023 157.531 157.984 -453
Sep-2023 156.563 157.001 -438
Aug-2023 156.107 156.302 -195
July 2023 155.779 156.126 -347
June 2023 156.701 156.963 -262
May-2023 156.038 156.306 -268
Apr-2023 155.155 155.337 -182
Mar-2023 154.253 154.517 -264
Feb-2023 153.818 153.955 -137
Jan-2023 152.689 152.844 -155
Dec-2022 155.210 154.771 439
Nov-2022 155.519 154.990 529
Oct-2022 155.936 154.369 567
Sep-2022 153.730 153.073 657
Aug-2022 153.209 152.572 713
Jul-2022 152.813 152.249 636
Jun-2022 153.176 152.692 564
May-2022 152.264 151.773 483
Apr-2022 151.434 150.938 491
Mar-2022 150.413 149.938 473
Feb-2022 149.606 148.967 639
Jan-2022 147.932 147.525 407
Dec-2021 150.740 150.170 570
Nov-2021 150.543 150.004 539
Oct-2021 149.606 149.217 388
Sep-2021 147.918 147.682 235
Aug-2021 147.159 146.856 303
Jul-2021 146.619 146.470 149
Jun-2021 146.627 146.517 109
May-2021 145.391 145.385 7
Apr-2021 144.403 144.398 4
Mar-2021 143.308 143.400 -92
Feb-2021 142.129 141.926 203
Jan-2021 140.975 140.927 47
Dec-2020 143.604 143.777 -173
Nov-2020 144.117 144.005 111
Oct-2020 143.565 143.459 105
Sep-2020 141.957 141.855 102
Aug-2020 140.728 140.598 129
Jul-2020 139.105 139.100 5
Jun-2020 138.507 138.513 -6
May-2020 133.421 133.342 80
Apr-2020 130.252 131.071 -818
Mar-2020 149.952 150.804 -852
Feb-2020 150.966 150.997 -30
Jan-2020 150.057 150.102 -46
Dec-2019 152.846 153.342 -497
Nov-2019 153.094 153.624 -529
Oct-2019 152.501 152.962 -462
Sep-2019 151.509 151.949 -439
Aug-2019 151.094 151.517 -423
Jul-2019 150.658 151.183 -525
Jun-2019 151.713 152.307 -593
May-2019 151.096 151.629 -536
Apr-2019 150.422 150.988 -566
Mar-2019 149.360 149.867 -507
Feb-2019 148.684 149.133 -450
Jan-2019 147.879 148.201 -323
Dec-2018 150.831 151.190 -359
Nov-2018 151.032 151.232 -200
Oct-2018 150.554 150.753 -200
Sep-2018 149.546 149.741 -196
Aug-2018 149.236 149.226 10
Jul-2018 148.767 148.901 -134
Jun-2018 149.930 148.912 1,018
May-2018 149.264 149.309 -45
Apr-2018 148.329 148.332 -3
Mar-2018 147.353 147.332 20
Feb-2018 146.648 146.696 -47
Jan-2018 145.413 145.473 -61
Dec-2017 148.509 148.346 163
Nov-2017 148.758 148.507 251
Oct-2017 148.182 148.006 176
Sep-2017 147.169 146.880 289
Aug-2017 146.781 146.541 241
Jul-2017 146.464 146.368 96
Jun-2017 147.565 147.388 178
May-2017 146.924 146.748 176
Apr-2017 146.085 145.979 107
Mar-2017 145.061 144.949 113
Feb-2017 144.405 144.271 134
Jan-2017 143.374 143.220 156
Dec-2016 146.252 146.148 104
Nov-2016 146.465 146.399 66
Oct-2016 146.031 145.928 104
Sep-2016 145.149 144.943 207
Aug-2016 144.484 144.424 61
Jul-2016 144.232 144.185 47
Jun-2016 145.205 145.239 -34
May-2016 144.541 144.592 -52
Apr-2016 143.892 143.944 -51
Mar-2016 142.797 142.877 -80
Feb-2016 141.900 142.005 -104
Jan-2016 141.073 141.123 -51
Dec-2015 144.045 144.191 -146
Nov-2015 144.048 144.128 -79
Oct-2015 143.627 143.739 -113
Sep-2015 142.478 142.627 -150
Aug-2015 141.921 142.126 -205
Jul-2015 141.731 141.794 -65
Jun-2015 142.681 142.817 -136
May-2015 142.205 142.420 -215
Apr-2015 141.264 141.462 -198
Mar-2015 140.080 140.326 -246
Feb-2015 139.324 139.566 -243
Jan-2015 138.491 138.728 -237
Dec-2014 141.306 141.256 50
Nov-2014 141.314 141.301 13
Oct-2014 140.848 140.817 31
Sep-2014 139.793 139.752 41
Aug-2014 139.105 138.989 116
Jul-2014 138.727 138.666 61
Jun-2014 139.804 139.761 43
May-2014 139.217 139.192 25
Apr-2014 138.308 138.288 18
Mar-2014 137.169 137.135 34
Feb-2014 136.212 136.183 28
Jan-2014 135.471 135.396 75
Dec-2013 138.275 137.753 521
Nov-2013 138.525 137.942 583
Oct-2013 138.002 137.540 461
Sep-2013 137.077 136.600 477
Aug-2013 136.471 135.961 510
Jul-2013 136.034 135.664 370
Jun-2013 137.208 136.805 404
May-2013 136.797 136.367 430
Apr-2013 135.906 135.494 411
Mar-2013 134.901 134.485 416
Feb-2013 134.102 133.603 499
Jan-2013 133.062 132.705 358
Dec-2012 135.945 134.822 1,125
Nov-2012 136.022 135.069 954
Oct-2012 135.633 134.792 841
Sep-2012 134.783 133.797 986
Aug-2012 134.155 133.092 1,064
Jul-2012 133.778 132.868 910
Jun-2012 134.987 134.072 914
May-2012 134.648 133.723 925
Apr-2012 133.836 132.945 891
Mar-2012 132.953 132.081 873
Feb-2012 132.050 131.210 840
Jan-2012 131.095 130.297 797
Dec-2011 133.702 132.965 736
Nov-2011 133.876 133.172 704
Oct-2011 133.540 132.870 670
Sep-2011 132.618 131.746 871
Aug-2011 131.871 131.058 812
Jul-2011 131.599 130.821 778
Jun-2011 132.869 132.144 727
May-2011 132.381 131.707 675
Apr-2011 131.698 131.072 626
Mar-2011 130.482 129.899 583
Feb-2011 129.575 128.994 582
Jan-2011 128.760 128.183 577
Dec-2010 131.622 131.050 572
Nov-2010 131.931 131.371 559
Oct-2010 131.623 131.071 553
Sep-2010 130.650 130.090 560
Aug-2010 130.158 129.624 534
Jul-2010 130.095 129.569 525
Jun-2010 131.430 130.908 523
May-2010 131.311 130.801 512
Apr-2010 130.195 129.698 497
Mar-2010 129.073 128.584 489
Feb-2010 128.241 127.746 494
Jan-2010 127.804 127.309 495

Current Employment Chart

Current Employment for Apr 25

BLS Commissioner’s Report

According to the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

“Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 177,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance. Federal government employment declined… 

Health care added 51,000 jobs in April, about the same as the average monthly gain of 52,000 over the prior 12 months. In April, job growth continued in hospitals (+22,000) and ambulatory health care services (+21,000)… 

Employment in transportation and warehousing increased by 29,000 in April…

Financial activities employment continued to trend up (+14,000)… 

Employment in social assistance continued its upward trend in April (+8,000) but at a slower pace than the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+20,000).

Within government, federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April and is down by 26,000 since January. (Employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay are counted as employed in the establishment survey.)”

You can read the full BLS report here.

As usual, they are talking about “Seasonally Adjusted Jobs”.

Looking at the Unadjusted Establishment Survey report we see…
Originally the BLS reported employment of 158.506 million for March which they adjusted slightly to 158.411 million in April.

They are currently reporting 159.316 million jobs for April which is actually an increase of 810,000 jobs. Based on their original numbers.

ADP® National Employment Report

ADP provides an independent (non-government) estimate of private sector employment and pay, based on data derived from ADP client payrolls. According to ADP®, In collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. Their numbers are generally entirely different from the numbers generated by the BLS household survey or BLS establishment survey.

ADP: Private employers added 62,000 jobs in April

  • Education and health services, information, and professional and business services lost jobs, while hiring in other sectors was moderate.

Nela Richardson Apr 2025

ADP also lists increases by “firm size”.
This month, net job losses in some firms were countered by gains in others.

ADP Changes:

Change by Est Size for Apr 2025

Looking Back at 2020

In 2020, the COVID virus short-circuited the normal trend with a drop that began in March, and by April, it had wiped out all the employment gains since July 2010. June 2020 saw employment rebound to approximately the January 2015 level. Fortunately, July did not follow the traditional falling pattern but instead rose (although only slightly). August’s employment rose to roughly the January 2016 level. September 2020 employment rose roughly triple the rate at which it rose in 2019. October 2020’s employment rose to slightly above the January 2017 level. In December, we got the traditional slight decline.  In November and December, employment was still just over 9 million below year-ago levels, and the civilian population has increased by more than a million people. And January got the expected sharp drop. By June 2021, employment rose above the January 2018 level.

The Effects of Population Increases

According to the BLS, in November 2007, there were 139,492,000 people employed, the unadjusted unemployment rate was 4.5%, and the civilian non-institutional population was approximately 232 million.

Seventeen years later, in November 2024, there were 160,539,000 employed for a net increase of 21.047 million jobs with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.0%.

But in November 2024, there were approximately 269.463 million civilians (not in jail, the military, or institutions). So, the population had increased by about 37.5 million, but there were only 21.047 million more jobs. So, what are the other 16 million people doing? And how can we have a lower unemployment rate with 16 million more not employed? 

According to the Census Bureau, there is one birth every 9 seconds, one death every 10 seconds, and one international immigrant every 32 seconds for a net gain of one person every 22 seconds. That means there are 6.7 births, 6 deaths, and 1.9 net migrations into the U.S. every minute. If we subtract deaths from births, we get a net gain of 0.7 per minute from births and 1.9 from immigration, so we can see that the vast majority of our population gain comes from immigrants. But immigrants need jobs… babies do not.

Employment / Population Ratio vs. Labor Force Participation Rate

The employment-population ratio is probably what people are thinking of when they hear the term Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR). The employment-population ratio is actually the percentage of the population that is working… while the LFPR is the percentage of the population that is in the labor force i.e. working or looking for work.

Date Labor Force Participation Rate Employment/Population Ratio
July 2007 66.0% 62.9%
July 2010 64.6% 58.5%
July 2015 62.6% 59.3%
July 2018 62.9% 60.5%
July 2019 63.1% 60.8%
July 2020 61.5% 55.2%
July 2021 61.7% 58.4%
July 2022 62.1% 60.0%
November 2022 62.1% 59.9%
December 2022 62.3% 60.1%
January 2023 62.4% 60.2%
February 2023 62.5% 60.2%
March 2023 62.6% 60.4%
April 2023 62.6% 60.4%
May 2023 62.6% 60.3%
June 2023 62.6% 60.3%
July 2023 62.6% 60.4%
August 2023 62.8% 60.4%
September 2023 62.8% 60.4%
October 2023 62.7% 60.2%
November 2023 62.8% 60.4%
December 2023 62.5% 60.1%
January 2024 62.5% 60.2%
February 2024 62.5% 60.1%
March 2024 62.7% 60.3%
April 2024 62.7% 60.2%
May 2024 62.5% 60.1%
June 2024 62.6% 60.1%
July 2024 62.7% 60.0%
August 2024 62.7% 60.0%
September 2024 62.7% 60.2%
October 2024 62.6% 60.0%
November 2024 62.5% 59.8%
December 2024 62.5% 60.0%
January 2025 62.6% 60.1%
February 2025 62.4% 59.9%
March 2025 62.5% 59.9%
April 2025 62.6% 60.0%
Date Labor Force Participation Rate Employment/Population Ratio

In 2007 roughly 63% of the population was working, but in 2022-24, just over 60% of the population was working.

Source

For more information, see Employment-Population Ratio or Labor Force Participation Rate.

January Adjustments to the Employment Rate:

In previous years, we had our doubts about the January adjustments, we have been tracking the data as released along with the changes since 2012. In 2013, they found 738,000 “previously overlooked” jobs, in January 2014, they found another 513,000 jobs, and in January 2015, they found another 227,000 jobs. In January 2016, they backtracked and erased 75,000 jobs, and in January 2017, the difference was only about 20,000 jobs. The BLS calls this adjustment “Benchmarking”.

January 2022 has once again “benchmarked” the data all the way back to 1990.

2018’s Commissioner’s Comment reads: “Following our usual practice, there were routine annual adjustments to the data from our two surveys. The establishment survey data released today reflect the incorporation of annual benchmark revisions. Each year, we re-anchor our sample-based survey estimates to full universe counts of employment, primarily derived from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, which enumerates jobs covered by the unemployment insurance tax system. The effect of these revisions on the underlying trend in nonfarm payroll employment was minor. (Additional information about the benchmark revision and its impact is contained in our news release and on our website at  www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbmart.htm.)”  

2018’s benchmarking increased the number of jobs by an average of about 135,000 from April 2016 through December 2017, which corresponds to the period of change for that year. They say they adjust the numbers only a few years back. But when we actually verify their numbers pre-adjustment and post-adjustment, the changes often go much further back than they claim.  In 2016, the BLS  “Benchmarked” their data back to 2000. Changes in 2014 went all the way back to 1979.

2019’s benchmarking was extremely minor.

2019’s Commissioner’s Comment reads:
With the release of January 2019 data on February 1, 2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) introduced its annual revision of national estimates of employment, hours, and earnings from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) monthly survey of nonfarm establishments.

The March 2018 benchmarked seasonally adjusted employment level for total nonfarm employment is 148,279,000. The not-seasonally adjusted benchmarked employment level is 147,368,000.

Compared with the sample-based, published seasonally adjusted estimate for March 2018, total nonfarm employment had a revision of -1,000 or less than -0.05 percent. The not seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment estimate was revised by -16,000, or less than -0.05 percent.

See BLS Changes Employment Numbers for the details.

On the Current Employment Rate Chart below, we can see how the various sets of numbers compare. The 2016- 2018 numbers are so close that it is difficult to see the difference on the chart. However, earlier changes were more significant, resulting is a 1.7 million job total difference. In addition to the issue of the numbers changing, there is the problem that the “Civilian Non-Institutional Population” continues to increase by roughly 200,000 people a month, although from December 2014 – January 2015, there was a massive 700,000 increase… possibly due to the changes allowing illegal aliens to become legal at that time (although the BLS claims that they were just adjusting their numbers to match the Census Bureau numbers). Although, supposedly, they did that the previous year as well, so there was still a massive increase coming from somewhere. The bottom line, though, is that the number of jobs needs to increase more than the population increases for the unemployment rate to actually fall.

Current Employment 1-4-19a

Note: Since the changes have been so minor over the last few years, we will not be updating this chart.

According to Shadowstats, the government is really underestimating unemployment by even more than our numbers suggest since “long-term discouraged workers were defined out of official existence in 1994.” The new U-6 numbers only include short-term discouraged workers, long-term discouraged workers are removed from the Labor Force and not counted.

The ShadowStats Alternate Unemployment Rate

Plus, according to  David Stockman, a two-term Congressman from Michigan and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan:

“In fact, at the February 2008 peak prior to the crisis, the BLS reported 138.5 million nonfarm payroll jobs compared to 143.9 million in April 2016. The net gain is thus only 5.6 million, and it means nearly 9 million or 61% of the 14 million new jobs our President (Biden) has been crowing about are not “new” at all; they were born-again jobs, and even then, they consist of lower-paying and lesser quality jobs than the ones obliterated during the crash and so-called Great Recession.

For instance, there has been a loss of 2.3 million goods-producing jobs in manufacturing, mining/energy, and construction, paying an average of$58,000 per year; and these have been swapped for 1.9 million jobs in leisure and hospitality, paying less than $20,000 per year.”

Historical Background:

The U.S. Employment rate peaked in November 2007 at around 139 million and then fell to 136 million bounced above 138 million before falling below 128 million in January 2010. By December 2012, the number of people employed reached between 135 and 136 million, depending on which BLS numbers you believe. A year later, in December 2013, the BLS was saying the employment was above 138 million, and by December 2014, the official numbers had topped 141 million.

From the Employment Rate Chart, we can see that employment in November 2013 was nearing levels reached in November 2007 when employment peaked at just over 139 million jobs. But then it fell sharply, as it seems to do every January (which is why they “seasonally adjust the numbers” to make annual comparison easier). Once again, we need to note that the total U.S. population (not just the “civilian non-institutional population) has increased from about 305 million to about 323.5 million since 2007.

BLS Changes Employment Numbers

Note:

In January 2018, an average of 135,000 jobs were added, although, in December 2017, jobs increased by 212,000.

In January 2017, 112,000 jobs were added to December 2016.

In January 2016, the “non-adjusted” numbers underwent their annual massage (i.e., adjustment), and this time rather than creating phantom jobs, they actually removed 75,000 phantom jobs.

But in January 2015, the “non-adjusted” numbers were adjusted, and the BLS found roughly 227,000 jobs.

In January 2014 they found roughly 513,000 jobs. And even though they say they only go back three months with their regular adjustment, their annual adjustment can go back years. This time they went back and created more jobs out of thin air going all the way back to 1978. Just like with the “Ministry of Truth” in George Orwell’s classic book “1984” it becomes increasingly difficult to determine where employment really stands and to track any trends if the “yardstick” for measurement is constantly changing.

According to the BLS, “On an annual basis, the establishment survey incorporates a benchmark revision that re-anchors estimates to nearly complete employment counts available from unemployment insurance tax records. The benchmark helps to control for sampling and modeling errors in the estimates. For more information on the annual benchmark revision, please visit www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbmart.htm.”  But that doesn’t explain why they would change data going back several years.

They said the “benchmarking” for January 2014 only went back as far as January 2009, but in actuality, they changed the numbers all the way back to April 1979 — 20 years further than they reported!

For 2015 they “only” changed the numbers as far back as April 2013 and added 227,000 jobs. But the newest change is on top of the change they made in January 2014, which added 513,000 jobs and changed the numbers all the way back to April 1979.

In 2016, the BLS  “Benchmarked” their data back to 2000. Previous revisions have resulted in roughly a 1.5 million job difference, but this revision resulted in very minor differences and even reduced the peaks in recent years minimally. These changes supposedly resulted from a new database for Services for the elderly and persons with disabilities coming online, which allowed the BLS access to more accurate numbers.

In 2013, the BLS changed the employment numbers back through July of 1991. At that time, I contacted the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they pointed me to a short obscure blurb on their website that supposedly explains why they did it.  See BLS Changes Employment Numbers for our full discussion of this (pseudo) BLS explanation. Their justification was that they hadn’t properly counted all the “Property and Casualty insurers”. And somehow, Property and Casualty insurers increased the total number of jobs by 104,000 in August 2010 and by 738,000 in December 2012. Boy, there must have been a lot of Property and Casualty insurers hired during that couple of years of recession!

You can see the cumulative difference between the 2012 numbers and the new numbers on the above chart, the total difference is now 1.478 million jobs.

Note: The Employment rate and the Unemployment rate are based on two entirely different surveys, but theoretically,0 they should be two sides of the same coin. If you look at the chart above, it does look like the employment rate is climbing, i.e., more people are getting jobs as the trend channel does seem to be up.

By looking at the employment rate, we should be able to tell how many jobs there are in our economy, pure and simple. (As Detective Joe Friday in Dragnet would say, “Just the facts, Ma’am”). Are there more jobs than last year? Good! Are there fewer jobs than last year? Not good. Simple as that! But things have gotten a bit more complex with the implementation of Obamacare. It has inadvertently created incentives for companies to switch from full-time employees to part-time employees. Thus, two people may be considered employed where there used to be only one… except there is no additional work being done… but the numbers look better.

We also need to consider the population factor. If the number of jobs stays the same, but the population increases drastically, then the unemployment rate will rise even though the number of jobs stayed the same. So looking at the unemployment rate is also important. Unfortunately, it still doesn’t give us the full picture. If the U.S. population is growing (and it is), but the number of jobs only holds steady, the number of people without jobs will increase. So in order for the real unemployment rate to stay the same, the number of jobs has to increase by at least the same rate as the population. If the number of jobs increases at anything less than the rate at which the population is increasing, the unemployment rate will be increasing.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics uses the Labor Force Participation Rate. If we look at the BLS’ Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force Participation Rate, we see that it has fallen drastically since 2009. Prior to 2009, it held fairly steady at around 66% of the workforce being employed, but it is now below 63%. In January 2015, the Labor Force Participation Rate was 62.9% it slowly worked its way down to 62.5% in October 2015 and November but appears to have bottomed there and now has rebounded a bit back up to 63.0% by Feb-Mar 2017 but couldn’t seem to break the 63% barrier until January and February 2019 when it hit 63.2%.

See What is the Labor Force Participation Rate? for more info on the current LFPR.

See Current Unemployment Rate for an explanation of how the government calculates the official Unemployment rate.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics- Current Employment Rate Data

For more information, see:

  • Article: Employment vs. Unemployment how do they compare?
  • Historical Employment Data Chart
  • Current Unemployment Rate Chart
  • Current Employment vs. Unemployment Chart Are they really “two sides of the same coin”?
  • What is U-6 Unemployment?
  • The Misery index measures inflation plus unemployment and is a good measure of the discomfort of the country’s population.
  • More Unemployment and Employment Charts
  • 10 Awesome Jobs You Can Do From Home

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jim Thykeson says

    August 14, 2012 at 5:17 pm

    What is the rate of taxes with drawn from wages that go to S/S and Medicare?

    • Tim McMahon says

      September 4, 2015 at 12:27 pm

      An employee’s portion of social security tax is 6.2% of his or her social security wages (i.e., up to the “wage base limit”). Employers are taxed an additional 6.2%, for a total contribution of 12.4%. There is no maximum income to pay into Medicare, so you pay an additional 2.9 percent of all W-2 income toward medicare.

Primary Sidebar

Search Site

Sponsored:

URGENT: These Stocks Stand Poised to Benefit from President Trump's Trade Wars!

As the Trump administration moves ahead with aggressive tariff policies on key imports, the mainstream media is scrambling.

This Free Report - which you can download now - reveals the names and ticker symbols of 5 Stock Poised to Benefit Most from President Trump's Tariff Wars.

Click Here to Download Your FREE Stock Report Now.

Recent Posts

  • April 2025 Employment / Unemployment Report
  • Would More Jobs Help Social Security?
  • March 2025- Employment / Unemployment Report
  • February 2025 Jobs Report
  • January 2025 BLS Employment Report

Resources

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey Monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for BLS. It provides data on the labor force, employment, unemployment, etc.
  • Capital Professional Services Providing web design and development and Internet marketing services
  • Elliott Wave University Using the Elliott Wave Principle to improve investment performance
  • Financial Trend Forecaster Featuring Moore Inflation Predictor, NYSE Rate of Change and NASDAQ Rate of change
  • InflationData.com Inflation calculators, databases, etc.
  • Intergalactic Web Designers Web design and development services
  • Your Family Finances

Articles by Category

Articles by Date

Disclaimer

At UnemploymentData.com we are not registered investment advisors and do not provide any individualized advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance and future accuracy and profitable results cannot be guaranteed.

Privacy & Terms of Use

Privacy Statement & Terms of Use

Do Not Sell My Information

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro on Capital Professional Services, LLC. All rights reserved · Log in