United States Unemployment Rate

Last Release

Aug 31, 2023

Actual

3.8

Units In

3.5

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Oct 06, 2023

Time to Release

1 Months 2 Days 11 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
14.7 Apr 2020	2.5 May 1953	5.71 %	1948-2023	U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

In the United States, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force.

Latest Updates

The unemployment rate in the US rose to 3.8 percent in August 2023 from 3.5 percent in July, the highest since February 2022 and above market expectations of 3.5 percent. The number of unemployed people increased by 514 thousand to 6.355 million and employment levels rose by 222 thousand to 161.484 million. The so-called U-6 unemployment rate, which also includes people who want to work, but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment, went up to 7.1 percent in August, the highest since May 2022, from 6.7 percent in July. The labor force participation rate increased to 62.8 percent, the highest since February 2020, from 62.6 percent.