Unemployment Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic: In Brief

"The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant effect on unemployment in every state, industry, and major demographic group in the United States. This report provides information on which groups have experienced the largest increases in unemployment rates since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Young workers, women, workers with low educational attainment, part-time workers, and racial and ethnic minorities had relatively high unemployment rates in April. Many, but not all, of these groups had relatively high rates in August as well. The report also compares the overall unemployment rate during the current recession with the unemployment rate experienced during the Great Recession. This report shows the following:

 The unemployment rate peaked at an unprecedented level, not seen since data collection started in 1948, in April (14.7%) before declining to a still-high level in August (8.4%).

 In April, every state and the District of Columbia reached unemployment rates greater than their highest unemployment rates during the Great Recession.

 Unemployment is concentrated in industries that provide in-person services. Notably, the Leisure and Hospitality industry experienced an unemployment rate of 39.3% in April, before declining to 21.3% in August.

 Part-time workers experienced an unemployment rate almost twice that of their full-time counterparts in April (24.5% vs. 12.9%), but this gap has since narrowed.

 Workers without a college degree experienced worse unemployment rates in April (e.g., 21.2% for workers with no high school degree) than workers with a Bachelor’s degree or higher (8.4%). The gap between educated and less-educated workers remained in August.

 Teenaged women experienced an unemployment rate of 36.6% in April, and teenaged men, 28.6%; compared with 13.7% for women and 12.1% for men ages 25-54. The gap between men and women has since narrowed overall, but young workers are still experiencing relatively high rates of unemployment.

 Racial and ethnic minorities had relatively high unemployment rates in April (16.7% for Black workers compared to 14.2% for White workers, and 18.9% for Hispanic workers compared to 13.6% for non-Hispanic workers), and these gaps persisted in August..."
Unemployment rates 

Characteristics of the Long-Term Unemployed in March 2007 and March 2014

"House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for

information about the characteristics of people who have been unemployed for a long time. Specifically, she asked the agency to describe any changes in those characteristics that occurred between March 2007 and March 2014. In answering that question, this document supplements and updates information provided in CBO’s Understanding and Responding to Persistently High Unemployment (February 2012), www.cbo.gov/publication/42989

 

The recent recession and slow recovery led to a high rate of long-term unemployment, which is defined as being out of work for more than 26 consecutive weeks. That rate peaked at 4.3 percent in the second quarter of calendar year 2010 and has fallen considerably since then (see Figure 1). It was 2.4 percent in March 2014 and has since fallen further to 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2014, still about a percentage point above its average from 2001 to 2007..."

Long term unemployed

Unemployment insurance:program and benefits

"Several types of benefits may be available to unemployed workers to provide them with income

support during a spell of unemployment. The federal-state Unemployment Compensation (UC)

program may provide income support through the payment of UC benefits for up to a maximum

of 26 weeks in most states. Prior to its expiration on December 28, 2013 (December 29, 2013, in

New York state), the temporary Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) program

provided additional unemployment benefits of up to 47 weeks, also depending on state economic

conditions..."
Unemployment insurance

Unemployment Insurance: Programs and Benefits

"Various benefits may be available to unemployed workers to provide income support. When

eligible workers lose their jobs, the Unemployment Compensation (UC) program may provide up

to 26 weeks of income support through the payment of regular UC benefits. Unemployment

benefits may be extended for up to 47 weeks by the temporarily authorized Emergency

Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) program. Unemployment benefits may be extended for

up to a further 13 or 20 weeks by the permanent Extended Benefit (EB) program under certain

state economic conditions..."

Unemployment insurance

Unemployment Insurance: Consequences of Changes in State Unemployment Compensation Laws

"This report analyzes several types of recent changes to state Unemployment Compensation (UC) programs. Three categories of UC state law issues are considered: (1) changes in the duration of state UC unemployment benefits; (2) changes in the UC weekly benefit amount; and (3) the enactment into state law of two trigger options for the Extended Benefit (EB) program.."
Unemployment insurance

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

Although the number of jobs created each month is a closely watched report, to get a more
complete one needs to look at the monthly "Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey."
Here you will find the number of job openings, hires, and separations.
Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

Federal Programs Available to Unemployed Workers

"Four groups of federal programs target unemployed workers: unemployment insurance, health
care assistance, job search assistance, and training. This report presents information on federal
programs targeted to unemployed workers specifically, but does not attempt to discuss meanstested
programs (such as Medicaid or SSI) that are available regardless of employment status..."
Federal Programs Available to Unemployed Workers

Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment

"The Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment (GP) contains information from the Current Population Survey (CPS) for census regions and divisions, the 50 States and the District of Columbia, and selected large metropolitan areas and cities. Data are provided on the employed and unemployed by selected demographic and economic characteristics.."
Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment

Regional and State Employment and Unemployment, April 2012

"The April 2012, nonfarm payroll employment increased in 32 states and the District of Columbia  and decreased in 18 states. The largest over-the-month increase in employment occurred in Indiana (+17,100), followed by Texas(+13,200),  and Georgia (+7,800). The largest over-the-month decrease in employment occurred in Maryland (-6,000), followed by Wisconsin (-5,900) and New Hampshire (-4,800). Hawaii experienced the largest over-the-month percentage increase in employment (+0.8 percent), followed by North Dakota (+0.7 percent) and Indiana (+0.6 percent)..."

REGIONAL AND STATE UNEMPLOYMENT —2011 ANNUAL AVERAGES

"In 2011, annual average unemployment rates declined in 48 states and rose in 2 states and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment-population ratios decreased in 24 states and the District of Columbia, increased in 19 states, and were unchanged in 7 states. The U.S. jobless rate in 2011 was 8.9 percent, down 0.7 percentage point from the prior year. The national employment-population ratio continued to trend down to 58.4 percent in 2011..."

Understanding And Responding To Persistently High Unemployment

U.S. Congressional Budget Office's proposal of combating high uenemployment.

Economic Growth and the Unemployment Rate

"A persistently high unemployment rate is of concern to Congress for a variety of reasons,
including its negative consequences for the economic well-being of individuals and its impact on
the federal budget (i.e., deficit growth due to lower revenue and higher expenditures). The
unemployment rate was 9.5% when the economy emerged from the 11th postwar recession in June
2009, and it climbed further to a peak of 10.1% in October 2009. The unemployment rate very
slowly declined in 2010. It settled at about 9.0% during the first three quarters of 2011..."

Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment, 2010
"This bulletin presents 2010 annual averages from the CPS for census regions and divisions; the 50 States and the District of Columbia; and 54 large metropolitan areas, 22 metropolitan divisions, and 41 principal cities. Data from the CPS differ from the official estimates produced by the individual States through the LAUS program. CPS estimates are provided herein because they are a current source of information on the demographic and economic characteristics of the labor force in subnational areas, from the same source as the official labor force data for the United States as a whole..."

Regional and State Unemployment -2010 Annual Averages
Annual unemployment data for regions and states.

State employment changes, April 2010
"From March 2010 to April 2010, 18 States had statistically significant increases in employment, while 4 States experienced statistically significant decreases in employment."

Understanding the Economy: Long-Term Unemployment in the African American Community
"This report provides an in-depth look at unemployment, including long-term unemployment,
among African American or black workers. Since 1972, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics
started tracking unemployment rates by race, it has become clear that the overall
unemployment rate for the United States has masked the depth of the unemployment problem
within the African American community.

This report is the first in a series of Joint Economic Committee reports examining the
unemployment situation among different demographic groups. It shows that while African
American workers have historically faced rates of unemployment and long-term unemployment
higher than the overall rate, the unemployment problems in the African American community
were exacerbated during the Great Recession. Additionally, a larger percentage of African
Americans are currently “marginally attached” or have dropped out of the work force, relative
to the population as a whole..."