This tile is stale: the value shown is the last
one the source published, never a fabricated current number.
The full history
1967
high 15.89 · low 2.53 · now 9.98 · 8 recessions shaded 2026
How it is read
What it measures
the first-foothold collapse
Confidence
ROBUST : a primary official series, mechanically reported.
Reliability (DRS)
DRS 95: 100 × unemployment level, new entrants (LNS13023569) ÷ total unemployment level (UNEMPLOY), exact-date join. A rising new-entrant share means the bottom rung is missing. BLS-produced; integrity-events factor applies.
Where it comes from
DERIVED ↗Every number on this site is reproducible from this primary source.
What it read at past stress points
Lehman, Sep 2008
8.58
· CALM
Q4-2018 selloff
9.69
· CALM
Curve inversion, Aug 2019
9.67
· CALM
COVID crash, Mar 2020
7.58
· CALM
Questions it helps answer
The Freeze: What is the labor market’s COMPOSITION saying?