National Unemployment Summary
Updated: Nov. 6, 2009
National Unemployment Rate Increases to 10.2% for October 2009
The national unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in October 2009, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Nov. 6, 2009. That marks the highest rate of unemployment since April 1983. Since the recession started in December 2007, unemployment has risen by 5.3 percent, with more than 8 million people having lost their jobs. Construction, manufacturing and retail trade sectors saw the largest job losses.
On a positive note, the number of job losses continues to decline. October saw a loss of 190,000 jobs and the job losses per month for the last three months averaged 188,000 per month. That is in contrast to the average job loss of 357,000 per month for the previous three month period and vastly improved from the 645,000 average job losses per month experienced from November 2008 to April 2009.
Unemployment figures for November will be released on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.
U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Press Release (Nov. 6, 2009)
National Unemployment Rates for 2008 and 2009
| |
Jan. |
Feb. |
Mar. |
April |
May |
June |
July |
Aug. |
Sept. |
Oct. |
Nov. |
Dec. |
| 2009 |
7.6 |
8.1 |
8.5 |
8.9 |
9.4 |
9.5 |
9.4 |
9.7 |
9.8 |
10.2 |
|
|
| 2008 |
4.9 |
4.8 |
5.1 |
5.0 |
5.5 |
5.6 |
5.8 |
6.2 |
6.2 |
6.6 |
6.8 |
7.2 |
(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
NCSL Contacts
|
Diana Hinton Noel
Committee Director
Labor and Economic Development
NCSL - Washington, D.C.
(202) 624-7779
|
Jeanne Mejeur
Program Director
Legislative Information Services
NCSL - Denver, Colorado
(303) 856-1467
|
Robert Strange
Policy Associate
Education, Labor and Economic Development
NCSL - Washington, D.C.
(202) 624-8698
|
Unemployment Insurance Main Page
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