What was lowest unemployment rate in us history

This chart shows the official U. Johnson had the lowest average unemployment rate across his presidency at 4. This chart shows the same data sorted by lowest average unemployment rate Johnson through the highest Ford. The effects of World War II demobilization were still being felt as the economy shifted from a war footing to peacetime and then started recalibrating for the Cold War and the growth of the national security state.

A notable exception was the fall of when the effects of postwar demobilization were being fully felt and the economy went into recession. Unemployment peaked at 7. Eisenhower inherited low unemployment rates when he took office, but they rose sharply with the recession of They recovered somewhat during the mids but climbed rapidly again in the recession of They dropped somewhat before climbing even higher at the end of his presidency in the recession of Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, called it a "strong" jobs report, "but payroll gains can't continue at this pace".

He added that while there were no immediate implications to monetary policy, it would be possible that similar data in future could "prompt something of a rethink at the Fed".

It's a strong jobs report and certainly undermines the concerns expressed in recent months that the US might be heading for a recession soon. The unemployment rate puts the US close to, though not at, the top of the international league table. That is a little flattering however.

It reflects not just job creation, but also the number of people not seeking to work. They are classified not as unemployed but as "not in the labour force".

API users can feed a custom application. White label accounts can distribute our data. We Are Hiring. Trading Economics welcomes candidates from around the world. Current job openings:. Unemployment Rate. Non Farm Payrolls. Government Payrolls. Nonfarm Payrolls Private. Manufacturing Payrolls. Unemployed Persons. Average Hourly Earnings. Marginally attached to the labor force 1.

People who were not in the labor force were considered marginally attached to the labor force if they wanted a job, were available for work, and had looked for work sometime in the prior 12 months but not in the last 4 weeks before the survey. See figure 8. A subset of the marginally attached are discouraged workers—people not currently looking for work because they are discouraged over their job prospects. These subsets of people not in the labor force—people who currently want a job, the marginally attached, and discouraged workers—have followed a similar trend in recent years.

These measures increased during the Great Recession and its aftermath and then began to trend downwards.

The number of people not in the labor force who wanted a job peaked in , the number of marginally attached peaked in , and the number of discouraged workers peaked in All three measures have returned to levels similar to what they had been before the —09 recession. Alternative measures of labor underutilization. Six alternative measures of labor underutilization have long been available on a monthly basis from the Current Population Survey CPS for the United States as a whole.

The official concept of unemployment as measured in the CPS by U-3 in the U-1 to U-6 range of alternatives includes all jobless people who are available to take a job and have actively sought work in the past 4 weeks. The other measures are provided to data users and analysts who want more narrowly defined measures U-1 and U-2 or more broadly defined measures U-4 through U Discouraged workers U-4, U-5, and U-6 measures are people who are not in the labor force, want and are available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the 12 months before the survey reference period.

They are not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the prior 4 weeks and they believed no jobs were available for them. The marginally attached U-5 and U-6 measures are a group that includes discouraged workers.

The criteria for the marginally attached are the same as for discouraged workers, with the exception that any reason could have been cited for the lack of job search in the prior 4 weeks. People employed part time for economic reasons U-6 measure are those working less than 35 hours per week who want to work full time, are available to do so, and gave an economic reason their hours had been cut back or they were unable to find a full-time job for working part time.

These individuals are sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers. In , U-6 declined by 0. Measures U-2, U-4, U-5, and U-6 were at their lowest levels reported since these measures were introduced in There has not been a lower rate for U-1 since the second quarter of See figure 9.

In the CPS, for any given month, a person can be classified in one of three labor force categories: employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force. For example, an unemployed person could become employed, or an employed person could leave the labor force. In , This represents the lowest annual rate of labor market churn for data on labor force status flows since The CPS data on labor force flows provide a more detailed look at changes in the unemployment rate. Data are seasonally adjusted 3-month moving averages.

This was slightly lower than a year earlier, when Among those unemployed who did not find employment in the following month, See figure As most economic indicators pointed to a strong labor market in , many economists continued to look for signs of acceleration in wage growth. As measured by the CPS, median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers increased by 3. See table 12 and figure Earnings varied by age and gender. For both men and women, earnings were lowest for those age 16 to 24, followed by to year-olds.

For example, the ratio was From to , Asians had the largest increase in earnings, at 7. Earnings for Whites increased by 3. The women's-to-men's earnings ratio varied by race and ethnicity. White women earned Earnings are positively correlated with educational attainment. Among full-time wage and salary workers age 25 and older, median usual weekly earnings rose for every educational attainment level from to As measured by the CPS, real or inflation-adjusted median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers also referred to as constant dollar usual weekly earnings increased by 1.

The economic expansion continued in , making it the longest on record. The national unemployment rate declined to 3. Both the labor force participation rate and the employment—population ratio increased from the previous year. Total employment expanded by 2. The unemployment rates for Blacks and Hispanics both fell to their lowest levels on record in The number of people working part time for economic reasons also declined over the year. Roxanna Edwards and Sean M. Smith, "Job market remains tight in , as the unemployment rate falls to its lowest level since ," Monthly Labor Review, U.

Or, in terms of quarters, the recession began in the fourth quarter of and ended in the second quarter of For the quarterly analysis in this article, the NBER-designated quarterly dates are used. Therefore, as of December or the fourth quarter of , the economic expansion had lasted for months or 42 quarters, surpassing the economic expansion of March first quarter to March first quarter , which lasted for months or 40 quarters and had been the longest expansion on record.

As a result, the most recent economic expansion is now the longest on record. For further analysis of the U. Each year, the U. Census Bureau updates its population estimates to reflect new information and assumptions about the growth of the population during the decade leading up to the decennial census. Following usual practice, BLS did not revise the official household survey estimates for December and earlier months.

An economic reason may include slack work, unfavorable business conditions, inability to find full-time work, or seasonal declines in demand.