Unemployment Rate

Percent of U.S. workers age 16 and older

Unemployment hit 9.4 percent in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. That's compared to 8.9 percent in April and higher than the 9.2 percent some economists expected. The broadest measure of unemployment -- U-6, which includes people who'd like a job but have given up looking -- reached 16.4 percent, up from 15.8 percent in May.

Howard Rosen of the Peterson Institute for International Economics sent over a series of charts this week on the current labor market. The theme? As a recession eases, joblessness lingers -- the old "lagging indicator" effect. He writes that in our current market, it may be getting harder to find a job:

"Forty-seven percent of UI recipients exhausted their assistance before finding a new job in April," Rosen notes. "Twenty-seven percent of unemployed are unemployed for more than 27 weeks."

As of May, the average job search was clocking in at 22.5 weeks. That's up from 21.4 in April.

categories: Employment

6:48 - June 5, 2009

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