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Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It provides a comprehensive body of data on the labor forceemploymentunemployment, persons not in the labor forcehours of workearnings, and other demographic and labor force characteristics.

Notices

  • Discontinuation of the Commissioner’s Statement (CPS) Read More »
  • Changes to 2023 CPS public-use microdata files Read More »
  • Supplemental data measuring the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the labor market Read More »

Charts

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Latest Numbers

RSS
Seasonally Adjusted

Unemployment Rate: 3.7% in May 2023 Historical Data

Change in Unemployment Level: +440,000 in May 2023 Historical Data

Change in Employment Level: -310,000 in May 2023 Historical Data

Change in Civilian Labor Force Level: +130,000 in May 2023 Historical Data

Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: 62.6% in May 2023 Historical Data

Employment-Population Ratio: 60.3% in May 2023 Historical Data

Annual Averages

Unemployment Rate: 3.6% for 2022 Historical Data

Unemployment Level: 5,996,000 for 2022 Historical Data

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News Releases

Payroll employment increases by 339,000 in May; unemployment rate rises to 3.7%

06/02/2023

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 339,000 in May, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point to 3.7 percent. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, government, health care, construction, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance.
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Union membership rate 10.1% in 2022, down from 10.3% in 2021

01/19/2023

The union membership rate was 10.1 percent in 2022, down from 10.3 percent the prior year. In 2022, the number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions increased by 273,000 to 14.3 million.
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Next Release

The Employment Situation for June 2023 is scheduled to be released on July 7, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Publications

The Economics Daily

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Median weekly earnings were $996 for women, $1,186 for men, in first quarter 2023

In the first quarter of 2023, women who worked full time in wage and salary jobs had median usual weekly earnings of $996, or 84.0 percent of men’s earnings ($1,186). read more »

BLS Reports

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Highlights of women's earnings in 2021

In 2021, women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings that were 83 percent of those of male full-time wage and salary workers. In 1979, the first year for which comparable earnings data are available, women’s earnings were 62 percent of men’s earnings. read more »

Monthly Labor Review

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U.S. labor market shows improvement in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh on the economy

The U.S. labor market continued to recover in 2021 from the recession caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The number of people who were unemployed and the unemployment rate decreased over the year, but both measures remained above their prepandemic levels. read more »

Spotlight on Statistics

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Demographic Changes in Employment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This Spotlight on Statistics compares employment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for men and women and for different racial and ethnic groups, age groups, and other worker characteristics. read more »

Beyond the Numbers

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How do jobseekers search for jobs? New data on applications, interviews, and job offers

How successful are jobseekers in finding jobs? How many applications does it take to get an interview? How likely is a job offer after an interview? Are job offers accepted or turned down? Data on job search are typically not available for large representative samples or do not address all of these questions. However, data have become available that quantify job-seeking activity at a specific time during a person’s unemployment spell. read more »