US unemployment rate, 1948 to 2026
US unemployment rate stood at 4.2% in 2026, down 10bp on the previous period.
The latest reading is 4.2 percent, for June 2026, against 4.3 percent in May 2026. The series is monthly (FRED series UNRATE) and runs from January 1948.
How it is measured
The share of the labor force without work but available and actively looking, from the monthly Current Population Survey of about 60,000 households. The labor force counts only workers and seekers, so discouraged workers who stop searching drop out of both numerator and denominator. The data reaches us through FRED, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's data service, and originates with the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Population Survey.
What the curve shows
The window runs from 2.5 percent (May 1953) to 14.8 percent (April 2020). The shape is the business cycle itself: unemployment spikes fast in recessions and grinds down slowly in recoveries, an asymmetry visible in every cycle on the chart.
Who counts as unemployed?
Why did it spike so sharply in 2020?
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