Job Market BLOG

SUMMARY: The number of Americans experiencing long-term unemployment continues to increase in tepid job market.

DETAILS: Seeing more and more people without work for months at a time? Sadly, this is becoming a reality for many American workers.

Today, one in four unemployed people, or about 1.8 million workers, have been searching for work for over half a year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that another 510,000 people are “discouraged workers,” meaning that they are unemployed but have stopped looking for work (in the past four weeks due to the belief that no suitable jobs are available).

It’s another indication that today’s job market is transforming in unique ways. The share of people who have been out of work for six or more months has been rising over the last three years. Typically, long-term unemployment has gone down after the job market recovers following recessionary shocks like the pandemic or Great Recession.