The number of persons who experienced unemployment at some point during 2021 was16.1 million, down significantly from 26.4 million in 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Labor market conditions continued to improve in 2021,reflecting the resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed due to thecoronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it. The proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over who worked at some time during 2021 was 63.3 percent, little changed from 2020. The proportion who worked at sometime during 2021 was 1.6 percentage points below the pre-pandemic rate in 2019.
These data are based on information collected in the Annual Social and EconomicSupplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ASECcollects information on employment and unemployment experienced during the prior calendar year. Additional information about the CPS and the ASEC, including conceptsand definitions, is provided in the Technical Note.
Highlights from the 2021 data:
--A total of 166.8 million persons worked at some point during 2021, up by 1.2 million from the prior year. (See table 1.)
--The proportion of workers who worked full time, year round rose from 63.1 percent in 2020 to 69.8 percent in 2021. (See table 1.)
--The "work-experience unemployment rate"--defined as the number of persons unemployed at some time during the year as a proportion of the number of persons who worked or looked for work during the year--decreased by 6.2 percentage points to 9.5 percent in 2021. (See table 3.)
--About 2.9 million individuals looked for a job but did not work at all in 2021, essentially unchanged from the prior year. (See table 3.)
Persons with Employment
Overall, 63.3 percent of the population worked in 2021, little different from 63.5 percent in 2020. The proportion of men who worked at some time during 2021 was 68.5percent, while the proportion for women was 58.4 percent in 2021. Both measures werelittle changed over the year. (See table 1.)
Among the major race and ethnicity groups, the proportion who worked at some time during 2021 declined by 1.0 percentage point to 61.2 percent for Blacks. The proportions for Whites (63.6 percent), Asians (64.7 percent), and Hispanics (66.1percent) changed little over the year. (See table 2.)
Among those with work experience in 2021, 81.8 percent usually worked full time, up0.9 percentage point from a year earlier. The proportion of men who usually workedfull time increased by 0.4 percentage point in 2021 to 86.7 percent. The proportionof women working full time increased by 1.4 percentage points to 76.4 percent. Among those who worked at some point in 2021, Asians (83.9 percent) and Blacks (83.7 percent)were more likely to usually work full time than Hispanics (82.1 percent) and Whites(81.6 percent). (See tables 1 and 2.)
Of the total who worked during 2021, 79.1 percent were employed year round (working50 to 52 weeks, either full or part time), up 8.1 percentage points from 2020. Theshare of men working year round increased to 81.0 percent in 2021, and the percentageof women working year round rose to 77.1 percent. (See table 1.)
Persons with Unemployment
Overall, 169.7 million persons worked or looked for work at some time in 2021, upby 1.1 million from the prior year. The number who experienced some unemploymentdecreased by more than one-third (10.3 million) to 16.1 million in 2021. (See table 3.)
The work-experience unemployment rate (those looking for work during the year as apercent of those who worked or looked for work during the year) fell considerably,decreasing 6.2 percentage points to 9.5 percent in 2021. This work-experienceunemployment rate remains 1.5 percentage points above the pre-pandemic rate in 2019.(See table 3.)
In 2021, the work-experience unemployment rate for men (9.9 percent) was higher thanthe rate for women (9.0 percent). The rates for both men and women fell significantlyfrom the prior year as the labor market continued to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. (See table 3.)
The work-experience unemployment rate decreased sharply among all the major raceand ethnicity groups in 2021. The rates declined to 8.8 percent for Whites, 13.2percent for Blacks, 8.6 percent for Asians, and 11.6 percent for Hispanics. Among Whites, Asians, and Hispanics, the rate for men was higher than the rate for women.The rate for Blacks was little different between men and women. (See table 4.)
The number of individuals who both worked and experienced unemployment in 2021 was13.3 million, decreasing by 10.2 million from the prior year. Among these workers,51.8 percent looked for work for 15 weeks or more. Additionally, 19.7 percent of thoseexperiencing unemployment had two or more spells of unemployment, an increase of5.6 percentage points from the prior year. In 2021, men were more likely than womento experience multiple spells of unemployment (21.7 percent and 17.1 percent,respectively). Asians (12.3 percent) were less likely than Whites (20.3 percent),Blacks (19.6 percent), or Hispanics (19.7 percent) to experience two or more spells of unemployment in 2021. (See tables 3 and 4.)
- Work Experience Technical Note
- Table 1. Work experience of the population during the year by sex and extent of employment, 2020-2021
- Table 2. Work experience of the population during the year by race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and sex, 2020-2021
- Table 3. Extent of unemployment during the year by sex, 2020-2021
- Table 4. Extent of unemployment during the year by race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and sex, 2020-2021
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