Unemployment Rate In The United States, Since 1990 - CEOWORLD magazine (2024)

FAQs

What was the unemployment rate in the US in 1990? ›

In 1990, the unemployment rate of the United States stood at 5.6 percent.

Unemployment was most severe in 1933 in Michigan, which also stands at the head of the array of the 1930-33 average with a rate of 35.9 percent.

Unemployment Rate in the United States averaged 5.70 percent from 1948 until 2024, reaching an all time high of 14.90 percent in April of 2020 and a record low of 2.50 percent in May of 1953.

In the 1990s, the unemployment rate fell below 4 percent for the first time since 1969. While overall unemployment levels of the late 1990s were nearly as low as those of the late 1960s, the employment picture for less-skilled males was decidedly worse.

The unemployment rate has varied from as low as 1% during World War I to as high as 25% during the Great Depression.

California had the highest unemployment rate, 5.3 percent, closely followed by the District of Columbia, 5.2 percent.

The latest report showed the state with the lowest unemployment was North Dakota, with a jobless rate of 1.9%. South Dakota was also among the states with the strongest job market, according to the latest data, with an unemployment rate of just 2.1%.

What's a good unemployment rate? A reasonable unemployment rate is somewhere between 3% and 5%. When unemployment is low, workers are usually paid more and will spend more, which is good for the economy. However, the additional money in circulation can help cause inflation, which if unchecked can be harmful.

How high was unemployment during the Great Depression? At the height of the Depression in 1933, 24.9% of the total work force or 12,830,000 people was unemployed.

China Jobless Rate Falls to 5.2%

China's surveyed unemployment rate edged down to 5.2% in March 2024, down from 5.3% in the previous month, in line with market expectations.

Which country has the highest unemployment in the world? ›

When Japan attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, the United States found itself in the war it had sought to avoid for more than two years. Mobilizing the economy for world war finally cured the depression.

For example, many economists agree that the technology boom of the 1990s increased labor productivity, making each worker more “desirable” to employers, and has therefore reduced the NAIRU—although there was an initial blip of unemployment as workers untrained in the technologies were displaced.

In fact, inflation declined between 1995 and 1997, so supply-side factors must have come into play. The three most important supply-side fac- tors are growth of the labor force, productivity, and foreign competition. All have changed in ways that increased supply in the mid-1990s.

The 1970s Economy

Soaring energy prices fueled a wage-cost price spiral and widespread price hikes across the full spectrum of economic activity. Frequent recessions raised unemployment without cooling inflation. The Federal Reserve focused on propping up growth and was powerless to tame soaring prices.

In the United States, unemployment rose to 25% at its highest level during the Great Depression. Literally, a quarter of the country's workforce was jobless. This number translated to 15 million unemployed Americans in 1933. As the Depression spread across the globe, some countries saw unemployment as high as 33%.

Census 2000 Brief: Employment Status: 2000

Of the 138.8 million people in the labor force, 129.7 million were employed, 7.9 million were unemployed, and 1.2 million were in the Armed Forces. The civilian unemployment rate was 5.8 percent.

1929–1941. The longest and deepest downturn in the history of the United States and the modern industrial economy lasted more than a decade, beginning in 1929 and ending during World War II in 1941. “Regarding the Great Depression, … we did it.

Both the 1980 and 1981-82 recessions were triggered by tight monetary policy in an effort to fight mounting inflation. During the 1960s and 1970s, economists and policymakers believed that they could lower unemployment through higher inflation, a tradeoff known as the Phillips Curve.