Current Population Survey (LNU04032229) · Private wage and salary workers outside agriculture, not seasonally adjusted
What is the unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers?
The unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers outside agriculture was 3.9% in the month ended , down 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier.
Unemployment rate, private wage and salary workers outside agriculture, not seasonally adjusted, each month
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to .
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .
Unemployment rate, private wage and salary workers outside agriculture, change from a year earlier, each month (ours)
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to .
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .
Each point is one month of the series as the source publishes it, or a change worked out from those values (ours). The US recessions are shaded. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.
Select a line to follow
Inspect and compare dates
The newest month beside the one before it and the nearest ones a year, five and ten years earlier. The last ten years are in the table under "The numbers behind the chart".
| Measure | Latest | The month before | A year earlier | Five years earlier | Ten years earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | |||||
| Unemployment rate, private wage and salary workers outside agriculture | 3.9% | 4.1% | 4.1% | 4.6% | 4.6% |
| Change over a year | −0.2 pts | 0.0 pts | +0.4 pts | −3.4 pts | −0.2 pts |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
Observed .
Right now
The unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers outside agriculture was 3.9% in September 2026, the lowest since May 2026.
Over a year it is down 0.2 percentage points (ours).
ChangeOurs
| Period | Then | Change |
|---|---|---|
| One month | 4.1%, the rate in | −0.2 percentage points |
| Three months | 4.0%, the rate in | −0.1 percentage points |
| Twelve months | 4.1%, the rate in | −0.2 percentage points |
| Five years | 4.6%, the rate in | −0.7 percentage points |
| Ten years | 4.6%, the rate in | −0.7 percentage points |
In historyOurs
The unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers outside agriculture of 3.9% in was higher than in 119 of the 943 other months since , the same in 22 and lower in 802.
Highest since : 15.6% in . Lowest since : 2.7% in .
AverageOurs
Average since : 5.88% (ours, a plain mean of the 944 months).
ComparedOurs
Over a year the unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers outside agriculture is down 0.2 percentage points, which ranks 2 of the 5 rows of the table, where 1 is the largest change.
The table sets the unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers outside agriculture beside the classes of worker on the unemployment by class of worker page, by the change over a year in each one's newest month.
Understanding the unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers outside agriculture
Where it stands today
The unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers outside agriculture was 3.9% in September 2026.
What does the unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers outside agriculture measure?
Private wage and salary workers outside agriculture are people who work for pay for a private employer, in any industry but farming. The self-employed, government workers and farm workers are in other lines. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates it each month from the Current Population Survey, a survey of households, and publishes it, not seasonally adjusted, in the Employment Situation report (table A-14).
Read more
What 500metrics adds: the change over a year, the highest and lowest value since the series begins, and how the change over a year compares with the other lines of the unemployment by class of worker page.
The numbers behind the chart
What was the unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers outside agriculture in each month?The last ten years, 119 months, newest first; the chart and the file have every month since Jan 1948
| Month | Value | Change over a year |
|---|---|---|
| 3.9% | −0.2 pts | |
| 4.1% | 0.0 pts | |
| 3.9% | −0.1 pts | |
| 4.0% | +0.1 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.1 pts | |
| 3.8% | 0.0 pts | |
| 4.1% | 0.0 pts | |
| 4.5% | +0.1 pts | |
| 4.5% | +0.1 pts | |
| 3.9% | +0.1 pts | |
| 4.1% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.1% | +0.4 pts | |
| 4.1% | +0.1 pts | |
| 4.0% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.9% | 0.0 pts | |
| 3.9% | +0.2 pts | |
| 3.8% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.1% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.4% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.4% | +0.3 pts | |
| 3.8% | +0.3 pts | |
| 3.9% | +0.4 pts | |
| 3.9% | +0.4 pts | |
| 3.7% | +0.1 pts |
Show 95 more rows
| Month | Value | Change over a year |
|---|---|---|
| 4.0% | +0.3 pts | |
| 4.2% | +0.7 pts | |
| 3.9% | +0.6 pts | |
| 3.7% | +0.3 pts | |
| 3.6% | +0.5 pts | |
| 3.9% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.2% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.1% | +0.2 pts | |
| 3.5% | +0.3 pts | |
| 3.5% | +0.2 pts | |
| 3.5% | +0.1 pts | |
| 3.6% | +0.3 pts | |
| 3.7% | +0.1 pts | |
| 3.5% | +0.1 pts | |
| 3.3% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.4% | +0.1 pts | |
| 3.1% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.2 pts | |
| 4.0% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.9% | −0.6 pts | |
| 3.2% | −0.5 pts | |
| 3.3% | −0.6 pts | |
| 3.4% | −0.8 pts | |
| 3.3% | −1.3 pts | |
| 3.6% | −1.6 pts | |
| 3.4% | −2.1 pts | |
| 3.5% | −2.5 pts | |
| 3.3% | −2.4 pts | |
| 3.3% | −2.7 pts | |
| 3.9% | −2.7 pts | |
| 4.2% | −2.6 pts | |
| 4.5% | −2.6 pts | |
| 3.7% | −3.0 pts | |
| 3.9% | −2.6 pts | |
| 4.2% | −2.6 pts | |
| 4.6% | −3.4 pts | |
| 5.2% | −3.6 pts | |
| 5.5% | −5.1 pts | |
| 6.0% | −5.7 pts | |
| 5.7% | −8.3 pts | |
| 6.0% | −9.6 pts | |
| 6.6% | +2.0 pts | |
| 6.8% | +3.0 pts | |
| 7.1% | +3.3 pts | |
| 6.7% | +3.5 pts | |
| 6.5% | +3.3 pts | |
| 6.8% | +3.5 pts | |
| 8.0% | +4.8 pts | |
| 8.8% | +5.3 pts | |
| 10.6% | +7.1 pts | |
| 11.7% | +8.2 pts | |
| 14.0% | +10.7 pts | |
| 15.6% | +12.3 pts | |
| 4.6% | +0.8 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.4 pts | |
| 3.2% | −0.4 pts | |
| 3.2% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.3% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.2% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.5% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.5% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.5% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.3% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.3% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.2 pts | |
| 4.0% | −0.3 pts | |
| 4.2% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.6% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.4% | −0.4 pts | |
| 3.5% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.5% | −0.5 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.5 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.4 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.5% | −0.5 pts | |
| 3.6% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.0% | −0.6 pts | |
| 4.3% | −0.7 pts | |
| 4.5% | −0.6 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.7 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.5 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.7 pts | |
| 4.0% | −0.6 pts | |
| 4.2% | −0.4 pts | |
| 4.1% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.1% | −0.3 pts | |
| 4.0% | −0.4 pts | |
| 4.1% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.6% | −0.4 pts | |
| 5.0% | −0.1 pts | |
| 5.1% | −0.1 pts | |
| 4.5% | −0.2 pts | |
| 4.3% | −0.4 pts | |
| 4.5% | −0.2 pts |
How does it compare with the classes of worker on the unemployment by class of worker page?Ranked by the change over a year
| Series | Month | Value | Change over a year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-employed and unpaid family workers | 3.4% | +0.7 pts | 1 | |
| Private wage and salary workers (this page) | 3.9% | −0.2 pts | 2 | |
| Government wage and salary workers | 1.8% | −0.6 pts | 3 | |
| Federal government workers | 2.6% | −1.1 pts | 4 | |
| Agricultural wage and salary workers | 2.7% | −4.1 pts | 5 |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite
What this number cannot tell you
- Not seasonally adjusted: compare a month with the same month a year before, not with the month before. The rate moves with the seasons, and BLS does not remove that movement from this series.
- The rate comes from a survey of households, so each month's value carries sampling error, which is larger for a small group; BLS's technical note in the Employment Situation gives its size.
- An unemployed person is placed in the class of worker of the last job. The rate is the number unemployed that way as a share of the labor force of that class: the people employed in it plus the unemployed who last worked in it. People who have never worked are in no class.
- People who run an incorporated business of their own are counted by BLS as wage and salary workers, so they are in this line and not in the self-employed line.
- October 2025 has no value because BLS did not collect the survey that month; the chart shows a gap there, and the change over a year for October 2026 has no value because there is no October 2025 to compare with.
- BLS publishes this series from 1948.
- The changes, the ranks and the highest and lowest values are ours, worked out from the values BLS publishes; a change is in percentage points.
Observed . Checked .
How to cite this
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Private wage and salary workers outside agriculture, not seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "What is the unemployment rate of private wage and salary workers?", https://500metrics.com/unemployment-by-class-of-worker/private-wage-salary.
Can the data be downloaded?unemployment-by-class-of-worker-private-wage-salary.csv
Download the full history as CSV: 944 rows, to , 15,702 bytes.
Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.
Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
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