July unemployment held near 4.1% as participation remained at 61.4%
The U.S. unemployment rate changed little at 4.1% in July 2026, with about 6.9 million people unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The labor-force participation rate remained at 61.4%, and the employment-population ratio held at 58.9%. Since January, participation was down 0.7 percentage point and the employment-population ratio was down 0.5 point.
Long-term unemployment accounted for one-quarter of joblessness
About 1.8 million people had been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. They represented 25.5% of all unemployed people in July.
Another 4.8 million people were working part time for economic reasons, and 5.9 million people outside the labor force said they wanted a job but were not counted as unemployed because they had not recently searched or were unavailable to work.
Wages rose 3.2% over the year
Average hourly earnings for private nonfarm workers were $37.62, up 2 cents during July and 3.2% over 12 months. Production and nonsupervisory workers averaged $32.40 per hour.
Payroll employment fell by 23,000. Local-government education and retail lost jobs, while health-care employment continued to grow. May and June payroll gains were revised down by a combined 103,000.
Sources
- Employment Situation Summary, July 2026, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
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