Unemployment rate returned to its prepandemic level in 2022

The U.S. labor market logged another year of recovery in 2022. Unemployment continued to decline early in the year and then leveled off. In the fourth quarter, both the number of unemployed people, at 5.9 million, and the unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent, were on par with levels recorded prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Total employment, as measured by the Current Population Survey, continued to expand in 2022. The employment–population ratio, at 60.0 percent in the fourth quarter, increased over the year, but the labor force participation rate, at 62.2 percent, changed little. Both measures remained below their prepandemic levels. In 2022, the U.S. labor market continued to recover from the recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.1 In the fourth quarter of 2022, the unemployment rate averaged 3.6 percent, 0.6 percentage point below the rate from a year earlier.2 The number of unemployed people, at 5.9 million in the fourth quarter, decreased over the year.