500metrics

Current Population Survey (LNS13092836) · Unemployed 27 weeks or longer, seasonally adjusted

What is the long-term unemployment rate?

The long-term unemployment rate was 1.1% in the month ended , unchanged from a year earlier.

Long-term unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, each month

January 2011 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as published

Long-term unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, each month (January 2011 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Long-term unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Long-term unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2024 to September 2026)

Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .

Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .

Long-term unemployment rate, change from a year earlier, each month (ours)

January 2011 to September 2026Ours, from the published values

Long-term unemployment rate, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (January 2011 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Long-term unemployment rate, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Long-term unemployment rate, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (September 2024 to September 2026)

Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .

Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .

Each point is one month of the series as the source publishes it, or a change worked out from those values (ours). The US recessions are shaded. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.

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Inspect and compare dates

The newest month beside the one before it and the nearest ones a year, five and ten years earlier. The last ten years are in the table under "The numbers behind the chart".

MeasureLatestThe month beforeA year earlierFive years earlierTen years earlier
Month
Long-term unemployment rate1.1%1.1%1.1%1.7%1.2%
Change over a year0.0 pts0.0 pts+0.1 pts+0.2 pts−0.1 pts

The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.

Observed .

Right now

The long-term unemployment rate was 1.1% in September 2026, the highest since May 2026.

Over a year it is unchanged (ours).

See every month of the last ten years

ChangeOurs

PeriodThenChange
One month1.1%, the rate in 0.0 percentage points
Three months1.1%, the rate in 0.0 percentage points
Twelve months1.1%, the rate in 0.0 percentage points
Five years1.7%, the rate in −0.6 percentage points
Ten years1.2%, the rate in −0.1 percentage points

In historyOurs

The long-term unemployment rate of 1.1% in was higher than in 81 of the 187 other months since , the same in 16 and lower in 90.

Highest since : 4.1% in . Lowest since : 0.6% in .

AverageOurs

Average since : 1.59% (ours, a plain mean of the 188 months).

ComparedOurs

Over a year the long-term unemployment rate is unchanged, which ranks 2 of the 18 rows of the table, where 1 is the largest change.

The table sets the long-term unemployment rate beside the groups and measures on the unemployment by group page, by the change over a year in each one's newest month.

See every row of the ranking

Understanding the long-term unemployment rate

Where it stands today

The long-term unemployment rate was 1.1% in September 2026.

What does the long-term unemployment rate measure?

The long-term unemployed are people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. This is their number as a share of the civilian labor force. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates it each month from the Current Population Survey, a survey of households. U-1 on this site counts those unemployed 15 weeks or longer.

Read more

What 500metrics adds: the change over one month, three months, a year and five years, the highest and lowest value since the series begins, and how the change over a year compares with the other lines of the unemployment by group page.

The numbers behind the chart

What was the long-term unemployment rate in each month?The last ten years, 119 months, newest first; the chart and the file have every month since Jan 2011
Long-term unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, by month, newest first (Percent of the civilian labor force; the change ours)
MonthValueChange over a year
1.1%0.0 pts
1.1%0.0 pts
1.0%−0.1 pts
1.1%+0.1 pts
1.2%+0.3 pts
1.1%+0.1 pts
1.1%+0.2 pts
1.1%+0.2 pts
1.1%+0.3 pts
1.1%+0.2 pts
1.1%+0.1 pts
1.1%+0.1 pts
1.1%+0.2 pts
1.1%+0.2 pts
1.0%+0.1 pts
0.9%+0.1 pts
1.0%+0.3 pts
0.9%+0.2 pts
0.9%+0.2 pts
0.8%0.0 pts
0.9%+0.1 pts
1.0%+0.3 pts
1.0%+0.2 pts
1.0%+0.3 pts
Show 95 more rows
MonthValueChange over a year
0.9%+0.1 pts
0.9%+0.2 pts
0.9%+0.2 pts
0.8%+0.1 pts
0.7%+0.1 pts
0.7%+0.1 pts
0.7%+0.1 pts
0.8%+0.1 pts
0.8%+0.2 pts
0.7%−0.1 pts
0.8%+0.1 pts
0.7%0.0 pts
0.8%+0.1 pts
0.7%0.0 pts
0.7%−0.1 pts
0.7%−0.1 pts
0.6%−0.2 pts
0.6%−0.2 pts
0.6%−0.4 pts
0.7%−0.3 pts
0.6%−0.6 pts
0.8%−0.5 pts
0.7%−0.8 pts
0.7%−1.0 pts
0.7%−1.3 pts
0.7%−1.4 pts
0.8%−1.7 pts
0.8%−1.5 pts
0.8%−1.7 pts
0.8%−1.8 pts
1.0%−1.6 pts
1.0%−1.5 pts
1.2%−1.3 pts
1.3%−1.1 pts
1.5%−0.7 pts
1.7%+0.2 pts
2.0%+1.0 pts
2.1%+1.1 pts
2.5%+1.7 pts
2.3%+1.6 pts
2.5%+1.9 pts
2.6%+1.9 pts
2.6%+1.9 pts
2.5%+1.8 pts
2.5%+1.8 pts
2.4%+1.7 pts
2.2%+1.4 pts
1.5%+0.7 pts
1.0%+0.2 pts
1.0%+0.2 pts
0.8%0.0 pts
0.7%−0.1 pts
0.6%−0.2 pts
0.7%−0.1 pts
0.7%−0.1 pts
0.7%−0.1 pts
0.7%−0.1 pts
0.7%−0.1 pts
0.8%0.0 pts
0.8%0.0 pts
0.8%0.0 pts
0.8%−0.1 pts
0.8%−0.1 pts
0.8%0.0 pts
0.8%−0.1 pts
0.8%0.0 pts
0.8%−0.1 pts
0.8%−0.1 pts
0.8%−0.1 pts
0.8%−0.2 pts
0.8%−0.2 pts
0.8%−0.2 pts
0.8%−0.3 pts
0.9%−0.2 pts
0.9%−0.1 pts
0.8%−0.3 pts
0.9%−0.2 pts
0.8%−0.2 pts
0.9%−0.2 pts
0.9%−0.3 pts
0.9%−0.3 pts
1.0%−0.2 pts
1.0%−0.2 pts
1.0%−0.2 pts
1.1%−0.1 pts
1.1%−0.1 pts
1.0%−0.2 pts
1.1%−0.1 pts
1.1%−0.2 pts
1.0%−0.4 pts
1.1%−0.3 pts
1.2%−0.1 pts
1.2%−0.1 pts
1.2%−0.1 pts
1.2%−0.2 pts
How does it compare with the groups and measures on the unemployment by group page?Ranked by the change over a year
Long-term unemployment rate beside the groups and measures on the unemployment by group page, newest month of each, by the change over a year (ours); equal changes share a rank
SeriesMonthValueChange over a yearRank
Prime-age men3.7%+0.2 pts1
New entrants0.5%0.0 pts2
Part-time workers4.5%0.0 pts2
U-1: 15 weeks or more1.8%0.0 pts2
Unemployed 27 weeks or more1.1%0.0 pts2
Job leavers0.4%−0.1 pts6
Prime-age, 25 to 543.6%−0.1 pts6
Reentrants1.3%−0.1 pts6
Married2.1%−0.2 pts9
Married men2.1%−0.2 pts9
Married women2.1%−0.2 pts9
U-2: job losers1.9%−0.2 pts9
U-3: all unemployed4.2%−0.2 pts9
Full-time workers4.1%−0.3 pts14
U-4: plus discouraged workers4.4%−0.3 pts14
Prime-age women3.4%−0.4 pts16
U-5: plus marginally attached5.0%−0.4 pts16
U-6: plus part time for economic reasons7.6%−0.5 pts18

The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.

What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite

What this number cannot tell you

  • The rate comes from a survey of households, so each month's value carries sampling error; BLS's technical note in the Employment Situation gives its size.
  • BLS seasonally adjusts the rate and revises the adjusted values of the past five years each January.
  • October 2025 has no value because BLS did not collect the survey that month; the chart shows a gap there, and the table of months has no row for it.
  • BLS publishes this rate from January 2011.
  • The changes, the ranks and the highest and lowest values are ours, worked out from the values BLS publishes; a change is in percentage points.

Observed . Checked .

How to cite this

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Unemployed 27 weeks or longer, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "What is the long-term unemployment rate?", https://500metrics.com/unemployment-by-group/long-term.

Can the data be downloaded?unemployment-by-group-long-term.csv

Download the full history as CSV: 188 rows, to , 3,119 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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