500metrics

Current Population Survey (LNS14200000) · Part-time workers, seasonally adjusted

What is the unemployment rate of part-time workers?

The unemployment rate of part-time workers was 4.5% in the month ended , unchanged from a year earlier.

Unemployment rate, part-time workers, seasonally adjusted, each month

January 1968 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as published

Unemployment rate, part-time workers, seasonally adjusted, each month (January 1968 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, part-time workers, seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, part-time workers, seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2024 to September 2026)

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

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

Unemployment rate, part-time workers, change from a year earlier, each month (ours)

January 1968 to September 2026Ours, from the published values

Unemployment rate, part-time workers, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (January 1968 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, part-time workers, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, part-time workers, 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 , to , to , to , to , to , to , 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
Unemployment rate, part-time workers4.5%4.4%4.5%4.2%5.0%
Change over a year0.0 pts−0.4 pts+0.3 pts−4.1 pts+0.2 pts

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

Observed .

Right now

The unemployment rate of part-time workers was 4.5% 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 month4.4%, the rate in +0.1 percentage points
Three months4.5%, the rate in 0.0 percentage points
Twelve months4.5%, the rate in 0.0 percentage points
Five years4.2%, the rate in +0.3 percentage points
Ten years5.0%, the rate in −0.5 percentage points

In historyOurs

The unemployment rate of part-time workers of 4.5% in was higher than in 65 of the 703 other months since , the same in 13 and lower in 625.

Highest since : 24.3% in . Lowest since : 3.6% in .

AverageOurs

Average since : 6.27% (ours, a plain mean of the 704 months).

ComparedOurs

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

The table sets the unemployment rate of part-time workers 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 unemployment rate of part-time workers

Where it stands today

The unemployment rate of part-time workers was 4.5% in September 2026.

What does the unemployment rate of part-time workers measure?

This is the unemployment rate of part-time workers: the unemployed who are looking for part-time work as a share of the part-time labor force, which is the people who usually work fewer than 35 hours a week plus those unemployed looking for part-time work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates it each month from the Current Population Survey, a survey of households.

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 unemployment rate of part-time workers in each month?The last ten years, 119 months, newest first; the chart and the file have every month since Jan 1968
Unemployment rate, part-time workers, seasonally adjusted, by month, newest first (Percent of the part-time labor force; the change ours)
MonthValueChange over a year
4.5%0.0 pts
4.4%−0.4 pts
4.2%−0.1 pts
4.5%−0.2 pts
4.7%+0.3 pts
4.6%+0.4 pts
4.6%+0.1 pts
5.1%+0.7 pts
4.8%+0.6 pts
4.6%+0.2 pts
4.8%+0.1 pts
4.5%+0.3 pts
4.8%+0.2 pts
4.3%−0.4 pts
4.7%+0.5 pts
4.4%+0.3 pts
4.2%−0.1 pts
4.5%0.0 pts
4.4%+0.5 pts
4.2%0.0 pts
4.4%+0.6 pts
4.7%+0.8 pts
4.3%−0.3 pts
4.2%−0.1 pts
Show 95 more rows
MonthValueChange over a year
4.6%+0.2 pts
4.7%+0.6 pts
4.2%+0.2 pts
4.1%+0.1 pts
4.3%+0.7 pts
4.5%+0.6 pts
3.9%−0.1 pts
4.2%+0.3 pts
3.8%−0.2 pts
3.9%−0.4 pts
4.6%+0.8 pts
4.3%+0.7 pts
4.4%+0.5 pts
4.1%−0.1 pts
4.0%+0.1 pts
4.0%−0.3 pts
3.6%−0.8 pts
3.9%−0.3 pts
4.0%−0.1 pts
3.9%−0.6 pts
4.0%−0.3 pts
4.3%+0.3 pts
3.8%−0.8 pts
3.6%−0.6 pts
3.9%−1.2 pts
4.2%−0.8 pts
3.9%−1.5 pts
4.3%−0.8 pts
4.4%−1.3 pts
4.2%−1.5 pts
4.1%−2.0 pts
4.5%−1.9 pts
4.3%−2.8 pts
4.0%−2.0 pts
4.6%−2.1 pts
4.2%−4.1 pts
5.1%−3.9 pts
5.0%−7.6 pts
5.4%−9.4 pts
5.1%−14.5 pts
5.7%−18.6 pts
5.7%−0.2 pts
6.1%+2.4 pts
6.4%+2.4 pts
7.1%+3.1 pts
6.0%+2.1 pts
6.7%+2.9 pts
8.3%+4.5 pts
9.0%+4.6 pts
12.6%+8.3 pts
14.8%+10.5 pts
19.6%+15.4 pts
24.3%+20.1 pts
5.9%+1.6 pts
3.7%−0.4 pts
4.0%−0.1 pts
4.0%−0.7 pts
3.9%−0.7 pts
3.8%−0.7 pts
3.8%−0.7 pts
4.4%+0.1 pts
4.3%0.0 pts
4.3%+0.1 pts
4.2%0.0 pts
4.2%0.0 pts
4.3%−0.1 pts
4.1%−0.5 pts
4.1%−0.5 pts
4.7%+0.3 pts
4.6%−0.4 pts
4.5%−0.1 pts
4.5%+0.3 pts
4.3%−0.2 pts
4.3%−0.2 pts
4.2%+0.1 pts
4.2%−0.6 pts
4.2%−0.8 pts
4.4%−0.4 pts
4.6%−0.5 pts
4.6%−0.1 pts
4.4%−0.4 pts
5.0%+0.6 pts
4.6%−0.5 pts
4.2%−0.8 pts
4.5%−0.6 pts
4.5%−0.5 pts
4.1%−0.8 pts
4.8%+0.2 pts
5.0%+0.4 pts
4.8%0.0 pts
5.1%+0.3 pts
4.7%−0.3 pts
4.8%+0.2 pts
4.4%−0.5 pts
5.1%+0.4 pts
How does it compare with the groups and measures on the unemployment by group page?Ranked by the change over a year
Unemployment rate, part-time workers 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.
  • The full-time and the part-time labor force are different groups of people, so the two rates are not parts of the headline rate.
  • 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, Part-time workers, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "What is the unemployment rate of part-time workers?", https://500metrics.com/unemployment-by-group/part-time-workers.

Can the data be downloaded?unemployment-by-group-part-time-workers.csv

Download the full history as CSV: 704 rows, to , 11,625 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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