Unemployment Rates in the United States Since 1948

The Bureau of Labor Statistics currently provides unemployment data from January 1st, 1948, right up until the present day.

If you need to look up national unemployment rates from a specific month and year, simply use the tool below.

Month: echo "January"; echo "February"; echo "March"; echo "April"; echo "May"; echo "June"; echo "July"; echo "August"; echo "September"; echo "October"; echo "November"; echo "December";   Year: 201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948

Your result will display here

General data can be found below:

The highest rate for a single month is shared by November and December of 1982 with an unemployment rate of 10.8%

The year with the highest average unemployment rate was 1982 with an average unemployment rate of 9.71%

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The lowest rate for a single month is shared by May and June of 1953 with an unemployment rate of 2.5%

The year with the lowest average unemployment rate was 1953 with an average unemployment rate of 2.93%

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The most recent unemployment number was 9.5% as of 2010-06-01








Data Source: U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics