500metrics

Current Population Survey (LNS14000060) · 25 to 54 years, seasonally adjusted

What is the prime-age unemployment rate?

The prime-age unemployment rate was 3.6% in the month ended , down 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier.

Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years, seasonally adjusted, each month

January 1948 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as published

Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years, seasonally adjusted, each month (January 1948 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years, seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years, seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2024 to September 2026)

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, 25 to 54 years, change from a year earlier, each month (ours)

January 1948 to September 2026Ours, from the published values

Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (January 1948 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (September 2024 to September 2026)

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".

MeasureLatestThe month beforeA year earlierFive years earlierTen years earlier
Month
Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years3.6%3.6%3.7%4.4%4.3%
Change over a year−0.1 pts0.0 pts+0.3 pts−2.7 pts+0.1 pts

The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.

Observed .

Right now

The prime-age unemployment rate was 3.6% in September 2026, the lowest since June 2025.

Over a year it is down 0.1 percentage points (ours).

See every month of the last ten years

ChangeOurs

PeriodThenChange
One month3.6%, the rate in 0.0 percentage points
Three months3.7%, the rate in −0.1 percentage points
Twelve months3.7%, the rate in −0.1 percentage points
Five years4.4%, the rate in −0.8 percentage points
Ten years4.3%, the rate in −0.7 percentage points

In historyOurs

The prime-age unemployment rate of 3.6% in was higher than in 274 of the 943 other months since , the same in 33 and lower in 636.

Highest since : 12.8% in . Lowest since : 1.9% in .

AverageOurs

Average since : 4.54% (ours, a plain mean of the 944 months).

ComparedOurs

Over a year the prime-age unemployment rate is down 0.1 percentage points, which ranks 6 of the 18 rows of the table, where 1 is the largest change.

The table sets the prime-age unemployment rate beside the groups and measures on the unemployment by group page, by the change over a year in each one's newest month.

See every row of the ranking

Understanding the prime-age unemployment rate

Where it stands today

The prime-age unemployment rate was 3.6% in September 2026.

What does the prime-age unemployment rate measure?

This is the unemployment rate of people aged 25 to 54, called the prime age: the share of those in the labor force who are unemployed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates it each month from the Current Population Survey, a survey of households. The unemployment rate page shows the rate of each narrower age group; the unemployment by group page lists prime-age men and prime-age women beside this line.

Read more

What 500metrics adds: the change over one month, three months, a year and five years, 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 group page.

The numbers behind the chart

What was the prime-age unemployment rate in each month?The last ten years, 119 months, newest first; the chart and the file have every month since Jan 1948
Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years, seasonally adjusted, by month, newest first (Percent of the labor force aged 25 to 54; the change ours)
MonthValueChange over a year
3.6%−0.1 pts
3.6%0.0 pts
3.6%0.0 pts
3.7%+0.4 pts
3.8%+0.2 pts
3.7%+0.2 pts
3.7%+0.2 pts
3.9%+0.4 pts
3.8%+0.4 pts
3.7%+0.2 pts
3.9%+0.3 pts
3.7%+0.3 pts
3.6%0.0 pts
3.6%0.0 pts
3.3%−0.2 pts
3.6%+0.3 pts
3.5%+0.3 pts
3.5%+0.3 pts
3.5%+0.2 pts
3.4%+0.1 pts
3.5%+0.2 pts
3.6%+0.5 pts
3.5%+0.3 pts
3.4%+0.2 pts
Show 95 more rows
MonthValueChange over a year
3.6%+0.5 pts
3.6%+0.6 pts
3.5%+0.4 pts
3.3%+0.1 pts
3.2%+0.1 pts
3.2%+0.2 pts
3.3%+0.3 pts
3.3%+0.3 pts
3.3%+0.4 pts
3.1%0.0 pts
3.2%0.0 pts
3.2%+0.3 pts
3.1%0.0 pts
3.0%0.0 pts
3.1%0.0 pts
3.2%+0.1 pts
3.1%0.0 pts
3.0%0.0 pts
3.0%−0.3 pts
3.0%−0.5 pts
2.9%−0.6 pts
3.1%−0.6 pts
3.2%−0.9 pts
2.9%−1.5 pts
3.1%−1.6 pts
3.0%−1.9 pts
3.1%−2.4 pts
3.1%−2.1 pts
3.1%−2.4 pts
3.0%−2.5 pts
3.3%−2.3 pts
3.5%−2.3 pts
3.5%−2.3 pts
3.7%−2.4 pts
4.1%−2.3 pts
4.4%−2.7 pts
4.7%−2.8 pts
4.9%−4.2 pts
5.5%−4.2 pts
5.2%−6.3 pts
5.5%−7.3 pts
5.5%+1.9 pts
5.6%+2.6 pts
5.8%+2.8 pts
5.8%+2.7 pts
6.1%+3.1 pts
6.4%+3.4 pts
7.1%+4.1 pts
7.5%+4.4 pts
9.1%+6.0 pts
9.7%+6.7 pts
11.5%+8.6 pts
12.8%+9.7 pts
3.6%+0.4 pts
3.0%−0.2 pts
3.0%−0.3 pts
3.1%−0.2 pts
3.0%−0.2 pts
3.0%−0.2 pts
3.0%−0.1 pts
3.1%−0.1 pts
3.1%0.0 pts
3.0%−0.3 pts
2.9%−0.3 pts
3.1%−0.3 pts
3.2%−0.2 pts
3.2%−0.2 pts
3.3%−0.1 pts
3.3%−0.2 pts
3.2%−0.3 pts
3.2%−0.3 pts
3.1%−0.5 pts
3.2%−0.7 pts
3.1%−0.6 pts
3.3%−0.4 pts
3.2%−0.7 pts
3.4%−0.4 pts
3.4%−0.4 pts
3.4%−0.6 pts
3.4%−0.7 pts
3.5%−0.5 pts
3.5%−0.5 pts
3.5%−0.7 pts
3.6%−0.7 pts
3.9%−0.4 pts
3.7%−0.3 pts
3.7%−0.5 pts
3.9%−0.2 pts
3.8%−0.5 pts
3.8%−0.4 pts
4.0%−0.1 pts
4.1%−0.1 pts
4.0%−0.3 pts
4.0%−0.3 pts
4.2%−0.2 pts
How does it compare with the groups and measures on the unemployment by group page?Ranked by the change over a year
Unemployment rate, 25 to 54 years beside the groups and measures on the unemployment by group page, newest month of each, by the change over a year (ours); equal changes share a rank
SeriesMonthValueChange over a yearRank
Prime-age men3.7%+0.2 pts1
New entrants0.5%0.0 pts2
Part-time workers4.5%0.0 pts2
U-1: 15 weeks or more1.8%0.0 pts2
Unemployed 27 weeks or more1.1%0.0 pts2
Job leavers0.4%−0.1 pts6
Prime-age, 25 to 543.6%−0.1 pts6
Reentrants1.3%−0.1 pts6
Married2.1%−0.2 pts9
Married men2.1%−0.2 pts9
Married women2.1%−0.2 pts9
U-2: job losers1.9%−0.2 pts9
U-3: all unemployed4.2%−0.2 pts9
Full-time workers4.1%−0.3 pts14
U-4: plus discouraged workers4.4%−0.3 pts14
Prime-age women3.4%−0.4 pts16
U-5: plus marginally attached5.0%−0.4 pts16
U-6: plus part time for economic reasons7.6%−0.5 pts18

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

  • The rate comes from a survey of households, so each month's value carries sampling error; BLS's technical note in the Employment Situation gives its size.
  • BLS seasonally adjusts the rate and revises the adjusted values of the past five years each January.
  • October 2025 has no value because BLS did not collect the survey that month; the chart shows a gap there, and the table of months has no row for it.
  • 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, 25 to 54 years, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "What is the prime-age unemployment rate?", https://500metrics.com/unemployment-by-group/prime-age.

Can the data be downloaded?unemployment-by-group-prime-age.csv

Download the full history as CSV: 944 rows, to , 15,663 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Page updated