Long-Term Unemployment

A single-storey brown brick office building with dark window bays and a white Arkansas Workforce Centers sign on its front wall, set behind a lawn and a two-lane road under an overcast sky.

Jobless Benefit Rolls Are Back to Their 2019 Share of the Workforce, Even as the Unemployment Rate Sits at 4.1 Per Cent

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 200,000 in the week to 7 November, the Labor Department said on 12 November. Continuing claims fell by 20,000 to 1.70 million. Both figures are below their levels a year ago, when the federal shutdown inflated filings.

By Margaret Holloway November 12, 2026

The Numbers

U.S. Payrolls Rose 165,000 in October. Outside Health Care, Employers Have Added 366,000 Jobs in a Year, the Most Since January 2025.

U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1 per cent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday. August and September were revised up by a combined 84,000. More than a quarter of the unemployed have now been looking for at least 27 weeks.

By Thomas Gutierrez November 9, 2026

Long-Term Unemployment

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Jobless Benefit Rolls Are Back to Their 2019 Share of the Workforce, Even as the Unemployment Rate Sits at 4.1 Per Cent

U.S. Payrolls Rose 165,000 in October. Outside Health Care, Employers Have Added 366,000 Jobs in a Year, the Most Since January 2025.