Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!

22 Million Americans Are Unemployed Or Can't Find Full-Time Work

More than 12 million Americans are unemployed, according to this morning's big jobs report.

But that doesn't include people who are working part-time because they can't find full-time work. Nor does it include people who want a job but haven't looked for one in the past month.

A less widely reported measure — sometimes called broader unemployment, or U-6 — includes both those groups. Some 22 million people fall into this category.

That number has come down a bit over the past few years. But, as the following graph shows, it's still much closer to where it was at the depth of the recession than to where it was at the peak of the boom/bubble of the mid aughts.

Note: This post was updated to reflect this morning's jobs report.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Lam Thuy Vo

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.