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Current Population Survey · Unemployment rates by occupation of the last job, not seasonally adjusted

What is the US unemployment rate in each occupation?

The month ended : of the 29 lines, the change over a year was largest for Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media, up 2.6 percentage points, and smallest for Farming, fishing and forestry, down 3.2 percentage points.

Unemployment rate by occupation, management, professional and related, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Not seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Unemployment rate by occupation, management, professional and related, each month, one row for each measure
  • Management, professional and related2.51.5 to 7.7
  • Management, business and financial2.21.4 to 6.2
  • Professional and related2.61.4 to 8.8

Unemployment rate by occupation, management, business, science and engineering, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Not seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Unemployment rate by occupation, management, business, science and engineering, each month, one row for each measure
  • Management1.61.1 to 6.3
  • Business and financial operations3.41.4 to 6.0
  • Computer and mathematical3.31.3 to 4.6
  • Architecture and engineering2.00.7 to 6.1
  • Life, physical and social science1.60.3 to 6.3

Unemployment rate by occupation, community, law, education, arts and health, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Not seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Unemployment rate by occupation, community, law, education, arts and health, each month, one row for each measure
  • Community and social services1.80.4 to 5.3
  • Legal1.00.1 to 5.4
  • Education, training and library2.70.9 to 14.5
  • Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media6.61.9 to 19.6
  • Healthcare practitioner and technical1.70.7 to 6.7

Unemployment rate by occupation, service, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Not seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Unemployment rate by occupation, service, each month, one row for each measure
  • Service occupations5.63.8 to 27.2
  • Healthcare support4.82.3 to 12.8
  • Protective service3.11.5 to 9.6
  • Food preparation and serving7.64.5 to 41.8
  • Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance5.13.4 to 21.9
  • Personal care and service5.32.8 to 39.3

Each row is one line of the page over the last ten years, one month to a point, on a scale shared by the rows of the tab, with its newest value and its range printed beside it and a dashed line at zero. A gap is a month with no value. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.

Observed .

Unemployment rate by occupation, sales and office, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Not seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Unemployment rate by occupation, sales and office, each month, one row for each measure
  • Sales and office3.42.9 to 14.8
  • Sales and related3.23.0 to 17.1
  • Office and administrative support3.52.8 to 12.7

Unemployment rate by occupation, natural resources, construction, maintenance, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Not seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Unemployment rate by occupation, natural resources, construction, maintenance, each month, one row for each measure
  • Natural resources and construction3.73.2 to 16.3
  • Farming, fishing and forestry4.23.2 to 18.6
  • Construction and extraction4.33.6 to 18.9
  • Installation, maintenance and repair2.61.5 to 12.8

Unemployment rate by occupation, production, transportation, material moving, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Not seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Unemployment rate by occupation, production, transportation, material moving, each month, one row for each measure
  • Production and transportation4.83.7 to 18.2
  • Production4.22.7 to 18.6
  • Transportation and material moving5.13.9 to 18.3

Each row is one line of the page over the last ten years, one month to a point, on a scale shared by the rows of the tab, with its newest value and its range printed beside it and a dashed line at zero. A gap is a month with no value. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.

Observed .

Right now

Over a year to September 2026, of the 29 lines on this page the change was largest for Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media, up 2.6 percentage points, and smallest for Farming, fishing and forestry, down 3.2 percentage points.

Of these lines, 9 rose, 16 fell and 4 did not change over the year (ours, from the published values).

See every line with its value and rank

By lineOver a year, ours

Unemployment rate by occupation, change over a year, by line

September 2025 to September 2026Percentage points, ours, from the published values

  • Management, professional and related
  • Management, business, science and engineering
  • Community, law, education, arts and health
  • Service
  • Sales and office
  • Natural resources, construction, maintenance
  • Production, transportation, material moving

Each bar is the change in one line over a year, the largest first, with its rank at the left and its newest value under the figure. A line with its own page links it from its name. A change below zero runs to the left of the zero line. The colour says which section of the page a line is in.

Observed .

Unemployment rate by occupation, change over a year in each month

Percentage points, ours, from the published values

Line
Management, professional and related–+0.3+0.3+0.5+0.3+0.20.0+0.10.0−0.1+0.20.0
Management, business and financial–+0.3+0.5+0.5+0.5+0.3+0.1−0.3+0.3+0.2+0.2+0.1
Professional and related–+0.4+0.2+0.5+0.20.00.0+0.4−0.2−0.3+0.3−0.2
Management–−0.1+0.2+0.6+0.6+0.5+0.2−0.1+0.1+0.2+0.1−0.4
Business and financial operations–+1.1+1.1+0.2+0.3−0.1+0.1−0.5+1.0+0.1+0.3+0.9
Computer and mathematical–+1.5+1.3+0.7+0.5+0.80.0−0.3+0.1−0.1+0.1−0.6
Architecture and engineering–+0.1−0.1+0.6+1.7+0.7+0.1−0.2−0.9+0.1−0.3−0.9
Life, physical and social science–+2.1+2.1+1.1+1.3+0.6−0.7+2.0+0.3−1.5−3.6−1.7
Community and social services–−0.9−0.6+0.8−0.6−0.7−0.3−0.4−1.2+0.5+0.4−0.8
Legal–+0.9+1.6+0.3+0.8+0.2+0.3−0.90.0−0.7−0.6−0.2
Education, training and library–+0.20.0+0.3+0.9+0.9+0.1+1.1−0.5−0.4+0.5−0.3
Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media–+0.4−0.4+1.3−2.6−3.2+0.3−0.4+0.9+0.9+3.3+2.6
Healthcare practitioner and technical–0.0−0.6+0.3−0.4−0.3−0.1+0.9−0.1−0.5+0.2+0.2
Service occupations–+0.2−0.1−0.6−0.3−0.1+0.2+0.20.0+0.1−0.2+0.2
Healthcare support–+1.6+1.8+1.0+0.2+0.6+0.2−0.3−0.5−0.1−0.3+0.5
Protective service–−1.8−0.7−1.3−1.9−1.1+1.0−0.3+1.5+1.4+0.3+0.8
Food preparation and serving–−0.8−1.0−2.3−1.0−0.9+0.20.0−0.3−0.20.0+0.2
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance–+1.2−0.3+1.1+1.3+0.4+0.8+0.1−1.1−0.6−1.20.0
Personal care and service–+0.1−0.1−1.1−0.6+0.2−1.8+1.2+1.3+1.0+0.7−0.4
Sales and office–+0.4+0.8+0.3+0.7+0.3+0.2−0.2−0.3+0.1−0.8−1.2
Sales and related–+0.8+0.4+0.4+0.6+0.6+0.1−0.8−1.0+0.2−0.7−1.6
Office and administrative support–0.0+1.1+0.2+0.8+0.1+0.3+0.2+0.4+0.1−0.9−1.0
Natural resources and construction–+0.6−0.6−0.3−0.3+1.1−0.2+0.4+0.7+0.4+0.10.0
Farming, fishing and forestry–+9.3−1.9+1.1+0.1−0.9+0.2−0.1−1.0−0.1−0.3−3.2
Construction and extraction–−0.2−0.7+0.6−0.2+1.5−0.9+1.0+1.8+0.7+0.5+0.5
Installation, maintenance and repair–+0.3−0.2−1.9−0.3+1.0+1.0−0.4−0.8+0.1−0.30.0
Production and transportation–−0.1−0.6+0.3+0.1−0.7−0.1−0.6−0.1−1.1−0.5−0.4
Production–−0.2−0.8+0.3−0.10.0−0.6−1.0+0.8−1.8−0.1−0.5
Transportation and material moving–0.0−0.5+0.2+0.1−1.1+0.1−0.2−0.6−0.6−0.8−0.4

Each chip is one month's change from the same month a year earlier. The mark in its middle is zero: a fill to the right of it is a rise and a fill to the left a fall. A longer, brighter fill is a larger change, in five steps up to 1.3 and over. Every chip prints its figure and sign. A dash is a month with no figure.

Observed .

Understanding unemployment by occupation

Where it stands today

The largest change over a year was Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media, up 2.6 percentage points, in September 2026.

What do the lines of this page measure?

These are the unemployment rates of the occupation groups: the five broad groups (management, professional and related; service; sales and office; natural resources, construction and maintenance; production, transportation and material moving), the groups inside them, and the more detailed occupations inside those. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates them each month from the Current Population Survey, a survey of households, and publishes them, not seasonally adjusted, in the Employment Situation report (table A-13).

Read more

An unemployed person is placed in the occupation of the last job, and each rate is a share of that occupation's labor force: the people employed in it plus the unemployed who last worked in it. The broad groups and the groups inside them have a page of their own; the more detailed occupations are lines of this page.

What 500metrics adds: the change over a year of every line, ranked across the page; the last ten years of every line as rows of small charts; and a table of the change over a year in each of the last twelve months. The lines with a link have a page of their own with the history since the series begins.

The numbers behind the chart

What is the latest value of each line?29 lines, in the sections of the page
Unemployment rate by occupation: the newest month of each line, its change over a year (ours) and its rank by that change; equal changes share a rank
LineSectionMonthValueChange over a yearRank
Management, professional and relatedManagement, professional and related2.5%0.0 pts10
Management, business and financialManagement, professional and related2.2%+0.1 pts9
Professional and relatedManagement, professional and related2.6%−0.2 pts14
ManagementManagement, business, science and engineering1.6%−0.4 pts17
Business and financial operationsManagement, business, science and engineering3.4%+0.9 pts2
Computer and mathematicalManagement, business, science and engineering3.3%−0.6 pts22
Architecture and engineeringManagement, business, science and engineering2.0%−0.9 pts24
Life, physical and social scienceManagement, business, science and engineering1.6%−1.7 pts28
Community and social servicesCommunity, law, education, arts and health1.8%−0.8 pts23
LegalCommunity, law, education, arts and health1.0%−0.2 pts14
Education, training and libraryCommunity, law, education, arts and health2.7%−0.3 pts16
Arts, design, entertainment, sports and mediaCommunity, law, education, arts and health6.6%+2.6 pts1
Healthcare practitioner and technicalCommunity, law, education, arts and health1.7%+0.2 pts6
Service occupationsService5.6%+0.2 pts6
Healthcare supportService4.8%+0.5 pts4
Protective serviceService3.1%+0.8 pts3
Food preparation and servingService7.6%+0.2 pts6
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenanceService5.1%0.0 pts10
Personal care and serviceService5.3%−0.4 pts17
Sales and officeSales and office3.4%−1.2 pts26
Sales and relatedSales and office3.2%−1.6 pts27
Office and administrative supportSales and office3.5%−1.0 pts25
Natural resources and constructionNatural resources, construction, maintenance3.7%0.0 pts10
Farming, fishing and forestryNatural resources, construction, maintenance4.2%−3.2 pts29
Construction and extractionNatural resources, construction, maintenance4.3%+0.5 pts4
Installation, maintenance and repairNatural resources, construction, maintenance2.6%0.0 pts10
Production and transportationProduction, transportation, material moving4.8%−0.4 pts17
ProductionProduction, transportation, material moving4.2%−0.5 pts21
Transportation and material movingProduction, transportation, material moving5.1%−0.4 pts17

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

  • These rates are not seasonally adjusted: compare a month with the same month a year before, not with the month before. The rates move with the seasons, and BLS does not remove that movement from these series.
  • Every rate comes from a survey of households, so each month's value carries sampling error, and the error is larger for a small group. BLS's technical note in the Employment Situation gives its size.
  • Many lines are parts of others: management, business and financial operations and professional and related occupations are the parts of the first line, and the detailed occupations are parts of those. A line is not a sum of the lines inside it, and the rank of the change over a year counts wholes and parts together as separate lines.
  • People who have never worked are in no occupation, so the rates do not describe the first-time job seekers.
  • October 2025 has no value because BLS did not collect the survey that month; the charts show a gap there, and the change over a year for October 2026 has no value because there is no October 2025 to compare with.
  • The changes and the ranks 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, Unemployment rates by occupation of the last job, not seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "What is the US unemployment rate in each occupation?", https://500metrics.com/unemployment-by-occupation.

Can the data be downloaded?unemployment-by-occupation.csv

Download the last ten years of every line as CSV: 3,480 rows, to , 278,343 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

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