Unemployment rate by month
Underemployment rate (U-6)
Also counts people working part time who want full-time work, and people who want a job but have stopped looking.
People unemployed
Without a job, available for work, and looked for one in the last four weeks.
Job openings
Open positions on the last business day of the month. This number comes out a month later than the others.
Unemployed people per job opening
Under 1 means more open jobs than people looking for one.
Is it the same in your field?
One national number hides big differences. Tick the fields you want to compare; the grey dashed line is everyone.
"12-month average" draws each month as the average of the twelve months ending with it. That takes out the seasons (construction slows every winter) and the jumps that come from small samples. "Each month" shows the numbers exactly as published.
Use these numbers
Everything on this page is in one file: download the CSV. It is free to use. If you publish something made with it, please link to this page. The link to this page keeps your selection, so you can share the exact comparison you are looking at.
What the unemployment rate counts
It is the share of the labor force that has no job, is available for work, and looked for one in the last four weeks. People who have stopped looking are not in it, and neither are people working part time who want more hours. The underemployment rate above includes both.
The numbers are national, monthly and seasonally adjusted. Recent months are often revised. October 2025 has no value: it was never published.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Current Population Survey; Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey), last read October 12, 2026. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.