What is the unemployment rate right now?

The unemployment rate is the percentage of people in the labor force who are actively looking for work but not currently employed. It’s a key measure used to assess the health of the job market and the broader economy.

In December 2024, 4.1% of the US labor force was unemployed. That’s a 0.3 percentage-point increase from the prior December.
Unemployment rates vary across states. As of November 2024, South Dakota had the lowest at 1.9%, while Nevada had the highest at 5.7%. 
Historically, the unemployment rate tends to rise during or shortly after a recession. Economic slowdowns reduce demand for goods and services, leading businesses to cut costs through layoffs or hiring freezes. The unemployment rate can also change based on the number of people joining or leaving the labor force.
The lowest national unemployment rates occurred in May and June 1953 at 2.5%. The highest rates were recorded in 1982, exceeding 10%, and in 2020, when unemployment peaked at 14.8%.

See years of data

How long do Americans stay at their jobs?

While some folks are clocking in for the long haul and others make quick career moves, job tenure numbers provide a snapshot of the labor market. Though the metrics vary by age group, the overall trends show tenure decreasing.

The median job tenure fell from 4.6 years in 2014 to 3.9 in 2024, down 15%. 2024’s tenure was the shortest since 2002.

Government employees have the longest average tenure — at 6.2 years— while employees in the private sector average 3.5 years. Within the private sector, the highest tenures are in mining and gas (5.7 years) and manufacturing (4.9 years), while leisure and hospitality workers average 2.1 years.
Workers from ages 20 to 24 averaged 1.4 years in a job, while those ages 55 to 64 had a median tenure of 9.6 years. Older workers tend to stay in their positions longer, but tenures have declined for all age groups 25 and older over the last decade.
While the median tenure is less than four years, 22.2% of workers have been in their roles for less than a year. Another 26.2% have stayed for more than 10. Just over 10% of people have been with the same employer for more than 20 years.
The aging workforce contributed to rising tenure during the 2000s. However, job tenure has decreased since 2014 even as the workforce continues to age.

Dig into the data

Data behind the news

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The  CBP One app people used to schedule appointments to seek asylum in the US also shut down on Monday. See how many people seek asylum here.

A farm on Long Island, New York, must euthanize more than 100,000 ducks after detecting bird flu among its livestock. This new article has the data on avian flu and how it affects egg prices.

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One last fact

Small businesses comprise 99.9% of all businesses in the US. They’ve driven 61% of job growth since 1995. As of last July, the nation had 34.8 million small businesses employing 59 million people.