Unemployment rate history: US from 1948

Measuring the rate

The unemployment rate is the share of the labour force without a job who are available for work and seeking it. People not seeking work, such as students and retirees, are outside the labour force and are not counted. Each statistics office uses its own survey, so methods differ slightly between countries.

US unemployment across decades

Unemployment rose during the 1970s, reaching 10.8% in November 1982. Following the 2008 financial crisis, it hit 10.0% in October 2009. It surged to a series high of 14.8% in April 2020, then dropped to 3.4% by April 2023.

The biggest jump

The US series had its biggest one-month jump in April 2020, rising from 4.4% in March to 14.8%, up 10.4 points. It fell to 6.7% by December 2020 and 3.9% by December 2021.

Long runs below 4%

The US rate was under 4% in 152 months since 1948. Its longest run lasted 35 months, from January 1951 to November 1953, with 31 of the 152 months in the 2020s.

US: year to September 2026

US unemployment varied little over the past year: 4.4% in September 2025, a peak of 4.5% in November 2025, a low of 4.1% in July and August 2026, and 4.2% in September 2026. The series has no figure for October 2025.

Beyond the US

We have unemployment data for 34 countries. Japan's series begins in 1953, the United Kingdom's in 1971, Canada's in 1976 and Australia's in 1978. Many European series begin between 2002 and 2011.

Spain (from 20.0% to 9.9%), Italy (from 11.7% to 6.2%) and Portugal (from 11.2% to 5.3%) had the largest declines over ten years. As of 19 October 2026, the latest rates were lowest in Singapore (2.3%) and Japan (2.6%), and highest in Spain (9.9%), Chile (9.6%) and Colombia (9.4%).

Monthly and quarterly data

16 of the 34 countries in our data report unemployment monthly: Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Finland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, Sweden and the United States. The other 18 report quarterly, so their latest figure may be a quarter older. Check the date beside each value when comparing.

Recent records

As of 19 October 2026, several countries were close to their highest or lowest recorded rates. Portugal's 5.3% in the second quarter of 2026 was its lowest since the series started in 2011, and Italy reached a low of 5.5% in January 2026. Finland's rate rose to 12.7% in May 2026, its highest since 2009.

Among the 28 countries with a figure from ten years ago, 20 now have lower unemployment and 7 higher, led by Sweden (6.2% to 8.1%), Chile (7.1% to 9.6%) and Finland (7.6% to 9.1%). Spain peaked at 26.9% in the first quarter of 2013, the highest in our figures.