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Current Population Survey (LNS14023621) · U-2, job losers and people who completed temporary jobs, seasonally adjusted

What is the U-2 unemployment rate?

The U-2 unemployment rate was 1.9% in the month ended , down 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier.

U-2 unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, each month

January 1967 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as published

U-2 unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, each month (January 1967 to September 2026), recessions shaded
U-2 unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
U-2 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 , to , to , to , to , to , to , to .

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

U-2 unemployment rate, change from a year earlier, each month (ours)

January 1967 to September 2026Ours, from the published values

U-2 unemployment rate, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (January 1967 to September 2026), recessions shaded
U-2 unemployment rate, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
U-2 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 , 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
U-2 unemployment rate1.9%1.9%2.1%2.5%2.4%
Change over a year−0.2 pts−0.1 pts+0.2 pts−3.2 pts−0.1 pts

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

Observed .

Right now

The U-2 unemployment rate was 1.9% in September 2026, the lowest since March 2024.

Over a year it is down 0.2 percentage points (ours).

See every month of the last ten years

ChangeOurs

PeriodThenChange
One month1.9%, the rate in 0.0 percentage points
Three months1.9%, the rate in 0.0 percentage points
Twelve months2.1%, the rate in −0.2 percentage points
Five years2.5%, the rate in −0.6 percentage points
Ten years2.4%, the rate in −0.5 percentage points

In historyOurs

The U-2 unemployment rate of 1.9% in was higher than in 101 of the 715 other months since , the same in 32 and lower in 582.

Highest since : 13.2% in . Lowest since : 1.2% in .

AverageOurs

Average since : 3.01% (ours, a plain mean of the 716 months).

ComparedOurs

Over a year the U-2 unemployment rate is down 0.2 percentage points, which ranks 9 of the 18 rows of the table, where 1 is the largest change.

The table sets the U-2 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 U-2 unemployment rate

Where it stands today

The U-2 unemployment rate was 1.9% in September 2026.

What does the U-2 unemployment rate measure?

U-2 is the share of the civilian labor force made up of job losers and people who completed temporary jobs: people who lost their job, were laid off or finished a temporary job, and are looking for work. It is one of the six official measures of unemployment that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes each month from the Current Population Survey, a survey of households. The headline rate, U-3, also counts people who left a job themselves, came back to the labor force or entered it for the first time.

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 U-2 unemployment rate in each month?The last ten years, 119 months, newest first; the chart and the file have every month since Jan 1967
U-2 unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, by month, newest first (Percent of the civilian labor force; the change ours)
MonthValueChange over a year
1.9%−0.2 pts
1.9%−0.1 pts
2.0%0.0 pts
1.9%0.0 pts
2.0%0.0 pts
2.1%+0.1 pts
2.0%+0.1 pts
2.1%+0.1 pts
2.1%+0.2 pts
2.0%+0.1 pts
2.1%+0.1 pts
2.1%+0.2 pts
2.0%0.0 pts
2.0%−0.1 pts
1.9%0.0 pts
2.0%+0.1 pts
2.0%+0.1 pts
1.9%+0.1 pts
2.0%+0.1 pts
1.9%+0.1 pts
1.9%+0.1 pts
2.0%+0.2 pts
2.0%+0.2 pts
1.9%+0.2 pts
Show 95 more rows
MonthValueChange over a year
2.0%+0.2 pts
2.1%+0.5 pts
1.9%+0.2 pts
1.9%+0.1 pts
1.9%+0.3 pts
1.8%0.0 pts
1.9%+0.2 pts
1.8%+0.2 pts
1.8%+0.2 pts
1.8%+0.1 pts
1.8%+0.2 pts
1.7%+0.2 pts
1.8%+0.1 pts
1.6%0.0 pts
1.7%+0.1 pts
1.8%+0.2 pts
1.6%−0.2 pts
1.8%+0.1 pts
1.7%−0.1 pts
1.6%−0.4 pts
1.6%−0.3 pts
1.7%−0.4 pts
1.6%−0.7 pts
1.5%−1.0 pts
1.7%−1.1 pts
1.6%−1.5 pts
1.6%−1.9 pts
1.6%−2.0 pts
1.8%−2.1 pts
1.7%−2.2 pts
1.8%−2.3 pts
2.0%−2.4 pts
1.9%−2.6 pts
2.1%−2.6 pts
2.3%−2.5 pts
2.5%−3.2 pts
2.8%−3.6 pts
3.1%−5.0 pts
3.5%−5.4 pts
3.6%−7.9 pts
3.9%−9.3 pts
3.9%+1.3 pts
4.1%+2.5 pts
4.4%+2.8 pts
4.5%+2.8 pts
4.7%+3.0 pts
4.8%+3.1 pts
5.7%+4.1 pts
6.4%+4.7 pts
8.1%+6.4 pts
8.9%+7.3 pts
11.5%+9.9 pts
13.2%+11.5 pts
2.6%+0.9 pts
1.6%−0.1 pts
1.6%−0.3 pts
1.7%−0.1 pts
1.7%−0.1 pts
1.7%−0.1 pts
1.6%−0.1 pts
1.7%0.0 pts
1.7%−0.1 pts
1.6%−0.3 pts
1.6%−0.2 pts
1.7%−0.2 pts
1.7%−0.2 pts
1.7%−0.3 pts
1.9%−0.1 pts
1.8%−0.2 pts
1.8%−0.2 pts
1.8%−0.2 pts
1.7%−0.4 pts
1.7%−0.5 pts
1.8%−0.3 pts
1.9%−0.2 pts
1.8%−0.3 pts
1.9%−0.3 pts
1.9%−0.3 pts
2.0%−0.3 pts
2.0%−0.3 pts
2.0%−0.3 pts
2.0%−0.2 pts
2.0%−0.3 pts
2.1%−0.3 pts
2.2%−0.1 pts
2.1%−0.2 pts
2.1%−0.3 pts
2.1%−0.3 pts
2.2%−0.3 pts
2.2%−0.2 pts
2.3%0.0 pts
2.3%+0.1 pts
2.3%−0.1 pts
2.2%−0.3 pts
2.3%−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
U-2 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.
  • 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, U-2, job losers and people who completed temporary jobs, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "What is the U-2 unemployment rate?", https://500metrics.com/unemployment-by-group/u-2.

Can the data be downloaded?unemployment-by-group-u-2.csv

Download the full history as CSV: 716 rows, to , 11,877 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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