Long-term Unemployment Jumps

As of February, 6.13 million of the 15 million unemployed men and women have been without a job for over 26 weeks. The sharp increase could signal structural unemployment – jobs being permanently eliminated and a mismatch between job requirements and the skills of potential workers. If structural, a reduction in unemployment will likely be slow.

Prior to this cycle, long-term unemployment, the red portion of the graph below, averaged 13% of the total unemployment count. As of February, long-term unemployment accounted for 41% of the total jobless count, the highest share since available records dating to 1950.