Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. What is the US unemployment rate?

Chart 1 of 1 · Jobs and wages

What is the US unemployment rate?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

4.2% of the US labor force was unemployed in September 2026, against 4.3% in August 2025. Since the monthly rate began in 1948 it peaked at 14.8% in April 2020, at the start of the pandemic, and was lowest at 2.5% in May 1953. October 2025 is missing because a lapse in federal funding stopped the survey.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026

Open the chart and its numbers

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