Unemployment in United States
Over the last decade, the United States' unemployment rate reflected its economic cycles. Post-Global-Financial-Crisis, the rate steadily decreased, reaching a 50-year low by 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic spike in 2020, with unprecedented job losses. Rapid fiscal and monetary responses facilitated a swift recovery, and unemployment rates have since returned close to pre-pandemic levels.
In the year 2024, the unemployment in United States was 4.03%, compared to 6.16% in 2014 and 3.63% in 2023. It averaged 4.82% over the last decade. For more unemployment information, visit our dedicated page.
United States Unemployment Chart
Note: This chart displays Unemployment Rate for United States from 2022 to 2024.
Source: Macrobond.
United States Unemployment Data
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment (% of active population, aop) | 8.1 | 5.4 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 4.0 |
| Unemployment (% of active population, eop) | 6.7 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 4.1 |
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects American unemployment projections for the next ten years from a panel of 49 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable unemployment forecast available for American unemployment.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our American unemployment projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of American unemployment forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.