US Unemployment

The BLS household survey showed that the US unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points in April 2012 to 8.1%. The unemployment rate peaked in October 2009 at 10.0% and is now 1.9 percentage points lower.

Unemployment Rate	April 2012	Month/Month	Year/Year
National	8.1%	-0.1	-0.9

Unemployment Rate

Note: Recessions shown in gray

US Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in the US peaked in October 2009 at 15,421,000. There are now 2,921,000 fewer people unemployed in the country. US employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained) is also available.

Unemployed Persons	April 2012	Month/Month	Year/Year
National	12,500,000	-173,000	-1,292,000

Unemployed Persons

US Unemployment History

Date	National Unemployment Rate	National Unemployed Persons
April 2012	8.1%	12,500,000
March 2012	8.2%	12,673,000
February 2012	8.3%	12,806,000
January 2012	8.3%	12,758,000
December 2011	8.5%	13,097,000
November 2011	8.7%	13,323,000
October 2011	8.9%	13,759,000
September 2011	9.0%	13,897,000
August 2011	9.1%	13,920,000
July 2011	9.1%	13,908,000
June 2011	9.1%	14,024,000
May 2011	9.0%	13,892,000
April 2011	9.0%	13,792,000