Current Population Survey (LNS13327707) · U-4, unemployed plus discouraged workers, seasonally adjusted
What is the U-4 unemployment rate?
The U-4 unemployment rate was 4.4% in the month ended , down 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier.
U-4 unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, each month
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to , to , to .
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .
U-4 unemployment rate, 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 .
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.
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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 | |||||
| U-4 unemployment rate | 4.4% | 4.4% | 4.7% | 5.0% | 5.3% |
| Change over a year | −0.3 pts | −0.2 pts | +0.4 pts | −3.2 pts | −0.1 pts |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
Observed .
Right now
The U-4 unemployment rate was 4.4% in September 2026, the lowest since October 2024.
Over a year it is down 0.3 percentage points (ours).
ChangeOurs
| Period | Then | Change |
|---|---|---|
| One month | 4.4%, the rate in | 0.0 percentage points |
| Three months | 4.5%, the rate in | −0.1 percentage points |
| Twelve months | 4.7%, the rate in | −0.3 percentage points |
| Five years | 5.0%, the rate in | −0.6 percentage points |
| Ten years | 5.3%, the rate in | −0.9 percentage points |
In historyOurs
The U-4 unemployment rate of 4.4% in was higher than in 74 of the 391 other months since , the same in 17 and lower in 300.
Highest since : 15.1% in . Lowest since : 3.7% in .
AverageOurs
Average since : 5.83% (ours, a plain mean of the 392 months).
ComparedOurs
Over a year the U-4 unemployment rate is down 0.3 percentage points, which ranks 14 of the 18 rows of the table, where 1 is the largest change.
The table sets the U-4 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.
Understanding the U-4 unemployment rate
Where it stands today
The U-4 unemployment rate was 4.4% in September 2026.
What does the U-4 unemployment rate measure?
U-4 adds discouraged workers to the unemployed, and to the labor force they are measured against. Discouraged workers are people who want a job, are available for one and have looked for work in the past year, but are not looking now because they believe no job is available for them. It is one of the six official measures of unemployment that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes each month from the Current Population Survey, a survey of households.
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 U-4 unemployment rate in each month?The last ten years, 119 months, newest first; the chart and the file have every month since Jan 1994
| Month | Value | Change over a year |
|---|---|---|
| 4.4% | −0.3 pts | |
| 4.4% | −0.2 pts | |
| 4.4% | −0.1 pts | |
| 4.5% | 0.0 pts | |
| 4.6% | +0.1 pts | |
| 4.6% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.5% | 0.0 pts | |
| 4.6% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.6% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.6% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.9% | +0.5 pts | |
| 4.7% | +0.4 pts | |
| 4.6% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.5% | 0.0 pts | |
| 4.5% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.5% | +0.3 pts | |
| 4.4% | +0.3 pts | |
| 4.5% | +0.4 pts | |
| 4.4% | +0.3 pts | |
| 4.4% | +0.5 pts | |
| 4.4% | +0.4 pts | |
| 4.4% | +0.5 pts | |
| 4.3% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.3% | +0.3 pts |
Show 95 more rows
| Month | Value | Change over a year |
|---|---|---|
| 4.4% | +0.4 pts | |
| 4.5% | +0.8 pts | |
| 4.3% | +0.5 pts | |
| 4.2% | +0.3 pts | |
| 4.1% | +0.4 pts | |
| 4.1% | +0.4 pts | |
| 4.1% | +0.3 pts | |
| 3.9% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.0% | +0.3 pts | |
| 3.9% | +0.1 pts | |
| 4.1% | +0.3 pts | |
| 4.0% | +0.2 pts | |
| 4.0% | +0.2 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.1 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.1 pts | |
| 3.9% | 0.0 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.5 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.5 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.6 pts | |
| 3.8% | −1.0 pts | |
| 3.8% | −1.2 pts | |
| 3.8% | −1.5 pts | |
| 3.8% | −1.9 pts | |
| 3.9% | −2.3 pts | |
| 3.9% | −2.2 pts | |
| 3.9% | −2.5 pts | |
| 3.9% | −2.5 pts | |
| 4.1% | −2.5 pts | |
| 4.2% | −2.6 pts | |
| 4.2% | −2.9 pts | |
| 4.4% | −2.6 pts | |
| 4.8% | −2.4 pts | |
| 5.0% | −3.2 pts | |
| 5.3% | −3.4 pts | |
| 5.7% | −4.9 pts | |
| 6.2% | −5.2 pts | |
| 6.1% | −7.5 pts | |
| 6.4% | −8.7 pts | |
| 6.4% | +1.6 pts | |
| 6.6% | +2.9 pts | |
| 6.8% | +3.0 pts | |
| 7.1% | +3.4 pts | |
| 7.0% | +3.3 pts | |
| 7.2% | +3.4 pts | |
| 8.2% | +4.5 pts | |
| 8.7% | +4.8 pts | |
| 10.6% | +6.7 pts | |
| 11.4% | +7.5 pts | |
| 13.6% | +9.7 pts | |
| 15.1% | +11.2 pts | |
| 4.8% | +0.7 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.4 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.4 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.8% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.7% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.9% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.9% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.9% | −0.3 pts | |
| 3.9% | −0.2 pts | |
| 3.9% | −0.3 pts | |
| 4.1% | −0.2 pts | |
| 4.0% | −0.3 pts | |
| 4.2% | −0.1 pts | |
| 4.1% | −0.3 pts | |
| 4.0% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.1% | −0.4 pts | |
| 4.0% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.1% | −0.6 pts | |
| 4.1% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.2% | −0.4 pts | |
| 4.1% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.2% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.3% | −0.4 pts | |
| 4.3% | −0.6 pts | |
| 4.3% | −0.7 pts | |
| 4.4% | −0.6 pts | |
| 4.5% | −0.6 pts | |
| 4.5% | −0.7 pts | |
| 4.5% | −0.8 pts | |
| 4.7% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.6% | −0.5 pts | |
| 4.6% | −0.6 pts | |
| 4.6% | −0.6 pts | |
| 4.7% | −0.7 pts | |
| 4.7% | −0.7 pts | |
| 4.9% | −0.3 pts | |
| 5.0% | −0.2 pts | |
| 5.0% | −0.4 pts | |
| 5.1% | −0.3 pts | |
| 5.2% | −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
| Series | Month | Value | Change over a year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime-age men | 3.7% | +0.2 pts | 1 | |
| New entrants | 0.5% | 0.0 pts | 2 | |
| Part-time workers | 4.5% | 0.0 pts | 2 | |
| U-1: 15 weeks or more | 1.8% | 0.0 pts | 2 | |
| Unemployed 27 weeks or more | 1.1% | 0.0 pts | 2 | |
| Job leavers | 0.4% | −0.1 pts | 6 | |
| Prime-age, 25 to 54 | 3.6% | −0.1 pts | 6 | |
| Reentrants | 1.3% | −0.1 pts | 6 | |
| Married | 2.1% | −0.2 pts | 9 | |
| Married men | 2.1% | −0.2 pts | 9 | |
| Married women | 2.1% | −0.2 pts | 9 | |
| U-2: job losers | 1.9% | −0.2 pts | 9 | |
| U-3: all unemployed | 4.2% | −0.2 pts | 9 | |
| Full-time workers | 4.1% | −0.3 pts | 14 | |
| U-4: plus discouraged workers (this page) | 4.4% | −0.3 pts | 14 | |
| Prime-age women | 3.4% | −0.4 pts | 16 | |
| U-5: plus marginally attached | 5.0% | −0.4 pts | 16 | |
| U-6: plus part time for economic reasons | 7.6% | −0.5 pts | 18 |
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.
- BLS publishes this series from 1994, the year it redesigned the survey.
- 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, U-4, unemployed plus discouraged workers, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "What is the U-4 unemployment rate?", https://500metrics.com/unemployment-by-group/u-4.
Can the data be downloaded?unemployment-by-group-u-4.csv
Download the full history as CSV: 392 rows, to , 6,540 bytes.
Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.
Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
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