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Current Population Survey (LNU04032238) · Financial activities, not seasonally adjusted

What is the unemployment rate in financial activities?

The unemployment rate in financial activities was 2.0% in the month ended , down 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier.

Unemployment rate, financial activities, not seasonally adjusted, each month

January 2000 to September 2026Not seasonally adjusted, as published

Unemployment rate, financial activities, not seasonally adjusted, each month (January 2000 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, financial activities, not seasonally adjusted, each month (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, financial activities, not 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 .

Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .

Unemployment rate, financial activities, change from a year earlier, each month (ours)

January 2000 to September 2026Ours, from the published values

Unemployment rate, financial activities, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (January 2000 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, financial activities, change from a year earlier, each month (ours) (September 2016 to September 2026), recessions shaded
Unemployment rate, financial activities, 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 .

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".

MeasureLatestThe month beforeA year earlierFive years earlierTen years earlier
Month
Unemployment rate, financial activities2.0%2.8%2.3%2.5%3.0%
Change over a year−0.3 pts+1.2 pts−0.1 pts−1.9 pts+0.4 pts

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

Observed .

Right now

The unemployment rate in financial activities was 2.0% in September 2026, the lowest since August 2025.

Over a year it is down 0.3 percentage points (ours).

See every month of the last ten years

ChangeOurs

PeriodThenChange
One month2.8%, the rate in −0.8 percentage points
Three months2.4%, the rate in −0.4 percentage points
Twelve months2.3%, the rate in −0.3 percentage points
Five years2.5%, the rate in −0.5 percentage points
Ten years3.0%, the rate in −1.0 percentage point

In historyOurs

The unemployment rate in financial activities of 2.0% in was higher than in 23 of the 319 other months since , the same in 8 and lower in 288.

Highest since : 7.7% in . Lowest since : 1.3% in .

AverageOurs

Average since : 3.41% (ours, a plain mean of the 320 months).

ComparedOurs

Over a year the unemployment rate in financial activities is down 0.3 percentage points, which ranks 7 of the 14 rows of the table, where 1 is the largest change.

The table sets the unemployment rate in financial activities beside the industries on the unemployment by industry page, by the change over a year in each one's newest month.

See every row of the ranking

Understanding the unemployment rate in financial activities

Where it stands today

The unemployment rate in financial activities was 2.0% in September 2026.

What does the unemployment rate in financial activities measure?

Financial activities are finance and insurance (banks, credit companies and insurance carriers) and real estate and rental and leasing. The rate is for people who worked, or last worked, for a private employer in them. 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 industry page.

The numbers behind the chart

What was the unemployment rate in financial activities in each month?The last ten years, 119 months, newest first; the chart and the file have every month since Jan 2000
Unemployment rate, financial activities, not seasonally adjusted, by month, newest first (Percent of the labor force of the industry; the change ours)
MonthValueChange over a year
2.0%−0.3 pts
2.8%+1.2 pts
2.5%+0.3 pts
2.4%+0.1 pts
2.2%−0.5 pts
2.7%−0.2 pts
2.8%0.0 pts
2.1%+0.1 pts
2.1%+0.1 pts
2.0%−0.1 pts
2.1%−0.3 pts
2.3%−0.1 pts
1.6%−1.4 pts
2.2%−0.3 pts
2.3%−0.4 pts
2.7%−0.1 pts
2.9%+0.2 pts
2.8%+0.6 pts
2.0%−0.4 pts
2.0%−0.1 pts
2.1%−0.8 pts
2.4%+0.1 pts
1.9%−0.3 pts
2.4%+0.5 pts
Show 95 more rows
MonthValueChange over a year
3.0%+0.8 pts
2.5%+0.6 pts
2.7%+0.5 pts
2.8%+0.5 pts
2.7%+0.6 pts
2.2%+0.4 pts
2.4%+0.2 pts
2.1%−0.2 pts
2.9%+0.3 pts
2.3%+0.4 pts
2.2%+0.3 pts
1.9%+0.6 pts
2.2%+0.4 pts
1.9%+0.3 pts
2.2%+0.1 pts
2.3%+0.4 pts
2.1%+0.2 pts
1.8%−0.2 pts
2.2%−0.2 pts
2.3%+0.4 pts
2.6%+0.2 pts
1.9%−0.1 pts
1.9%0.0 pts
1.3%−1.2 pts
1.8%−1.4 pts
1.6%−1.4 pts
2.1%−1.3 pts
1.9%−1.1 pts
1.9%−0.8 pts
2.0%−1.4 pts
2.4%−1.3 pts
1.9%−1.5 pts
2.4%−0.7 pts
2.0%−1.5 pts
1.9%−1.9 pts
2.5%−1.9 pts
3.2%−1.0 pts
3.0%−1.7 pts
3.4%−1.7 pts
3.0%−2.7 pts
2.7%−2.7 pts
3.4%+1.2 pts
3.7%+2.0 pts
3.4%+0.9 pts
3.1%+0.8 pts
3.5%+1.4 pts
3.8%+1.8 pts
4.4%+2.5 pts
4.2%+2.1 pts
4.7%+3.0 pts
5.1%+3.1 pts
5.7%+4.0 pts
5.4%+3.3 pts
2.2%−0.6 pts
1.7%−0.9 pts
2.5%+0.1 pts
2.3%−0.1 pts
2.1%0.0 pts
2.0%0.0 pts
1.9%−0.8 pts
2.1%−0.6 pts
1.7%−0.6 pts
2.0%−0.1 pts
1.7%0.0 pts
2.1%+0.5 pts
2.8%+1.0 pts
2.6%+0.4 pts
2.4%+0.2 pts
2.4%+0.9 pts
2.1%0.0 pts
2.0%−0.2 pts
2.7%+0.2 pts
2.7%+0.2 pts
2.3%0.0 pts
2.1%−0.4 pts
1.7%−0.6 pts
1.6%−0.7 pts
1.8%−0.5 pts
2.2%−1.2 pts
2.2%−1.1 pts
1.5%−1.1 pts
2.1%−0.7 pts
2.2%−0.5 pts
2.5%−0.5 pts
2.5%−0.3 pts
2.3%−0.1 pts
2.5%+0.3 pts
2.3%+0.5 pts
2.3%−0.4 pts
2.3%−0.7 pts
3.4%−0.2 pts
3.3%+0.2 pts
2.6%0.0 pts
2.8%+0.2 pts
2.7%+0.3 pts
How does it compare with the industries on the unemployment by industry page?Ranked by the change over a year
Unemployment rate, financial activities beside the industries on the unemployment by industry page, newest month of each, by the change over a year (ours); equal changes share a rank
SeriesMonthValueChange over a yearRank
Education and health services3.6%+0.3 pts1
Transportation and utilities4.2%+0.3 pts1
Information7.1%+0.1 pts3
Professional and business services3.9%0.0 pts4
Leisure and hospitality6.6%−0.1 pts5
Other services3.6%−0.1 pts5
Construction3.5%−0.3 pts7
Financial activities2.0%−0.3 pts7
Nondurable goods3.4%−0.6 pts9
Manufacturing2.9%−0.8 pts10
Wholesale and retail trade4.0%−0.8 pts10
Durable goods2.6%−1.0 pts12
Agriculture2.8%−4.2 pts13
Mining0.9%−5.9 pts14

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 industry of the last job. The rate is the number unemployed that way as a share of the industry's labor force: the people employed in it plus the unemployed who last worked in it. People who have never worked are in no industry.
  • 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 2000.
  • 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, Financial activities, not seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "What is the unemployment rate in financial activities?", https://500metrics.com/unemployment-by-industry/financial-activities.

Can the data be downloaded?unemployment-by-industry-financial-activities.csv

Download the full history as CSV: 320 rows, to , 5,271 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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