Using interactive dashboards on our Tableau Public site, the Recovery Decision Science Business Intelligence team has been tracking changes in the labor market since the early days of the pandemic on a monthly basis.
CURRENT UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
The U.S. unemployment rate continues to hold steady, with the most recent month coming in at 3.5%. From an opening rate of 4.0% in January of this year, unemployment has hovered in the mid-3 range every month of this year. The rate is down over a full point compared to 4.7% a year ago
We have now returned to the pre-COVID rate of 3.5% from February, 2020. But as the pandemic kicked in, the national unemployment rate more than tripled, hitting 14.7% in April, 2020.
INITIAL UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS
Monthly unemployment claims in September stand at 711,792, down 7% versus the previous month. You would have to go back to August, 2019 to find initial unemployment claims at the same level. For perspective, there were 17,240,178 unemployment claims in March 2020. Here is a breakdown of the daily average of unemployment claims over the past four years:
- 2022 (to date): 28,884
- 2021: 63,565
- 2020: 193,441
- 2019: 38,831
Let’s look at the breakdown by various groups (Indexed to the national average)
Rate by Education Level:
- <High school diploma: 5.6% (160)
- HS graduate with no college degree: 3.7% (106)
- Some college/associate degrees: 2.9% (83)
- Bachelor’s degree and higher: 1.8% (51)
Rate by Race:
- Black or African American: 5.8% (166)
- Hispanic: 3.8% (109)
- White: 3.1% (89)
- Asian: 2.5% (71)
Rate by Industry (highest three):
- Leisure and hospitality: 5.9% (169)
- Transportation and Utilities: 4.0% (114)
- Construction: Mining and Oil Exploration 3.4% (97)
NOTE: Leisure & Hospitality had the highest unemployment rate by industry in April 2020: 30.3%
Rate by Occupation (highest three):
- Food Service: 5.4% (154)
- Transportation and Production: 4.8% (137)
- Service: 4.4% (126)
NOTE: Food Service had the highest rate by occupation in April 202: 41.8%
CLICK HERE to see the entire set of UNEMPLOYMENT WORKBOOKS.
To learn more about Recovery Decision Science Business Intelligence team contact:
Kacey Rask : Vice-President, Portfolio Servicing
[email protected] / 513.489.8877, ext. 261
