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Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It provides a comprehensive body of data on the labor forceemploymentunemployment, persons not in the labor forcehours of workearnings, and other demographic and labor force characteristics.

Notices

  • Discontinuation of the Commissioner’s Statement (CPS) Read More »
  • Changes to 2023 CPS public-use microdata files Read More »
  • Supplemental data measuring the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the labor market Read More »

Charts

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Latest Numbers

RSS
Seasonally Adjusted

Unemployment Rate: 3.6% in Feb 2023 Historical Data

Change in Unemployment Level: +242,000 in Feb 2023 Historical Data

Change in Employment Level: +177,000 in Feb 2023 Historical Data

Change in Civilian Labor Force Level: +419,000 in Feb 2023 Historical Data

Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: 62.5% in Feb 2023 Historical Data

Employment-Population Ratio: 60.2% in Feb 2023 Historical Data

Annual Averages

Unemployment Rate: 3.6% for 2022 Historical Data

Unemployment Level: 5,996,000 for 2022 Historical Data

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News Releases

Payroll employment rises by 311,000 in February; unemployment rate edges up to 3.6%

03/10/2023

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 311,000 in February, and the unemployment rate edged up to 3.6 percent. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, retail trade, government, and health care. Employment declined in information and in transportation and warehousing.
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Union membership rate 10.1% in 2022, down from 10.3% in 2021

01/19/2023

The union membership rate was 10.1 percent in 2022, down from 10.3 percent the prior year. In 2022, the number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions increased by 273,000 to 14.3 million.
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Next Release

The Employment Situation for March 2023 is scheduled to be released on April 7, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Publications

The Economics Daily

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Hawaii had the highest rate of union membership in 2022

Hawaii had the highest rate of union membership in 2022, at 21.9 percent, followed by New York at 20.7 percent and Washington at 18.0 percent of employment. The rate of union membership for the United States was 10.1 percent in 2022, down from 10.3 percent in 2021. read more »

BLS Reports

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Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2021

The Race and Ethnicity report describes the labor force characteristics and earnings patterns among the largest race and ethnicity groups living in the United States—Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics—and provides detailed data through a set of supporting tables. read more »

Monthly Labor Review

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U.S. labor market shows improvement in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh on the economy

The U.S. labor market continued to recover in 2021 from the recession caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The number of people who were unemployed and the unemployment rate decreased over the year, but both measures remained above their prepandemic levels. read more »

Spotlight on Statistics

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Demographic Changes in Employment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This Spotlight on Statistics compares employment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for men and women and for different racial and ethnic groups, age groups, and other worker characteristics. read more »

Beyond the Numbers

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How do jobseekers search for jobs? New data on applications, interviews, and job offers

How successful are jobseekers in finding jobs? How many applications does it take to get an interview? How likely is a job offer after an interview? Are job offers accepted or turned down? Data on job search are typically not available for large representative samples or do not address all of these questions. However, data have become available that quantify job-seeking activity at a specific time during a person’s unemployment spell. read more »