This tile is stale: the value shown is the last
one the source published, never a fabricated current number.
The full history
1994
high 22.90 · low 6.60 · now 7.70 · 3 recessions shaded 2026
How it is read
What it measures
the slack the headline rate hides
Confidence
ROBUST : a primary official series, mechanically reported.
Reliability (DRS)
DRS 95: Adds involuntary part-time and marginally attached workers to the unemployment count. BLS-produced; subject to the integrity-events DRS factor.
Where it comes from
FRED ↗Every number on this site is reproducible from this primary source.
What it read at past stress points
Lehman, Sep 2008
11.10
▲ EXTREME
Q4-2018 selloff
7.60
· CALM
Curve inversion, Aug 2019
7.20
· CALM
COVID crash, Mar 2020
8.80
· CALM
Questions it helps answer
Work: Is the labor market holding, and how broadly?