Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Unemployment rates by educational attainment in August 2015

September 09, 2015

The unemployment rate in August 2015 edged down to 5.1 percent. The rate was 5.3 percent in July 2015 and 6.1 percent in August 2014. For people age 25 and older with a bachelor's degree or more education, the unemployment rate was 2.5 percent in August 2015, down from 3.2 percent a year earlier. For people with some college or an associate degree, the unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in August 2015, down from 5.4 percent the previous year.

 

 

Unemployment rates for people age 25 and older, by educational attainment, seasonally adjusted, August 2005 to August 2015
Month Less than a high school diploma High school graduates, no college Some college or associate degree Bachelor's degree and higher

Aug 2005

7.5% 4.7% 3.5% 2.1%

Sep 2005

8.2 4.9 3.7 2.3

Oct 2005

7.3 4.8 3.8 2.3

Nov 2005

7.4 4.8 3.9 2.3

Dec 2005

7.4 4.5 3.9 2.1

Jan 2006

7.0 4.4 3.6 2.1

Feb 2006

7.1 4.4 3.6 2.2

Mar 2006

6.9 4.1 3.7 2.2

Apr 2006

6.9 4.4 3.8 2.2

May 2006

7.0 4.3 3.8 2.1

Jun 2006

7.1 4.1 3.5 2.1

Jul 2006

7.1 4.5 3.6 2.0

Aug 2006

6.8 4.6 3.5 1.8

Sep 2006

6.4 4.1 3.6 2.1

Oct 2006

5.8 4.1 3.4 1.9

Nov 2006

6.6 4.3 3.4 1.8

Dec 2006

6.7 4.3 3.4 1.8

Jan 2007

6.9 4.3 3.8 2.1

Feb 2007

7.3 4.3 3.6 1.9

Mar 2007

6.9 4.0 3.6 1.8

Apr 2007

7.1 4.1 3.6 1.9

May 2007

6.6 4.4 3.4 2.0

Jun 2007

6.7 4.1 3.5 2.0

Jul 2007

7.3 4.6 3.6 2.1

Aug 2007

6.5 4.4 3.6 2.1

Sep 2007

7.6 4.5 3.4 2.0

Oct 2007

7.3 4.6 3.5 2.1

Nov 2007

7.7 4.5 3.3 2.2

Dec 2007

7.7 4.7 3.8 2.1

Jan 2008

7.7 4.7 3.7 2.1

Feb 2008

7.4 4.7 3.8 2.0

Mar 2008

8.4 5.1 3.9 2.1

Apr 2008

7.7 5.0 4.0 2.1

May 2008

8.1 5.0 4.3 2.2

Jun 2008

8.7 5.1 4.3 2.4

Jul 2008

8.6 5.4 4.6 2.5

Aug 2008

9.7 5.8 4.9 2.8

Sep 2008

9.8 6.2 5.0 2.6

Oct 2008

10.3 6.4 5.2 3.1

Nov 2008

10.8 7.0 5.5 3.2

Dec 2008

11.1 7.8 5.7 3.6

Jan 2009

12.4 8.2 6.5 3.9

Feb 2009

13.2 8.5 7.3 4.1

Mar 2009

14.0 9.2 7.5 4.3

Apr 2009

14.9 9.5 7.7 4.4

May 2009

15.2 10.0 7.8 4.8

Jun 2009

15.6 9.7 8.1 4.8

Jul 2009

15.3 9.5 8.0 4.8

Aug 2009

15.6 9.7 8.1 4.8

Sep 2009

14.9 10.6 8.3 5.0

Oct 2009

15.2 11.0 8.7 4.7

Nov 2009

14.7 10.3 8.8 4.8

Dec 2009

15.0 10.6 8.7 4.9

Jan 2010

15.3 10.2 8.6 4.9

Feb 2010

15.8 10.7 8.1 4.9

Mar 2010

14.9 11.0 8.4 4.9

Apr 2010

14.7 10.8 8.4 4.8

May 2010

14.6 10.9 8.2 4.6

Jun 2010

14.2 10.6 8.1 4.4

Jul 2010

13.5 10.0 8.3 4.5

Aug 2010

14.1 10.0 8.7 4.6

Sep 2010

15.6 9.7 8.9 4.5

Oct 2010

15.0 9.8 8.2 4.6

Nov 2010

15.4 10.0 8.6 5.0

Dec 2010

15.0 9.8 8.1 4.8

Jan 2011

14.3 9.5 8.1 4.3

Feb 2011

14.0 9.7 7.9 4.3

Mar 2011

14.1 9.7 7.5 4.4

Apr 2011

14.7 9.9 7.5 4.5

May 2011

14.5 9.6 7.8 4.5

Jun 2011

14.4 10.0 8.3 4.3

Jul 2011

14.5 9.1 8.3 4.2

Aug 2011

14.1 9.3 8.3 4.2

Sep 2011

14.3 9.4 8.5 4.2

Oct 2011

13.5 9.4 8.1 4.3

Nov 2011

12.8 8.8 7.7 4.4

Dec 2011

13.6 8.7 7.6 4.1

Jan 2012

13.0 8.5 7.2 4.3

Feb 2012

13.1 8.3 7.2 4.2

Mar 2012

12.8 8.1 7.5 4.1

Apr 2012

12.5 8.0 7.6 4.0

May 2012

13.0 8.3 7.7 3.9

Jun 2012

12.7 8.5 7.3 4.0

Jul 2012

12.4 8.5 7.2 4.1

Aug 2012

11.8 8.6 6.7 4.0

Sep 2012

11.6 8.5 6.6 4.0

Oct 2012

12.1 8.2 6.9 3.7

Nov 2012

11.8 8.0 6.6 3.9

Dec 2012

11.7 8.0 6.8 4.0

Jan 2013

12.0 8.1 7.0 3.8

Feb 2013

11.2 7.9 6.6 3.8

Mar 2013

11.1 7.7 6.2 3.8

Apr 2013

11.6 7.5 6.3 3.9

May 2013

11.0 7.4 6.5 3.8

Jun 2013

10.7 7.6 6.4 3.8

Jul 2013

10.9 7.5 6.1 3.8

Aug 2013

11.1 7.5 6.1 3.4

Sep 2013

10.5 7.6 6.1 3.7

Oct 2013

10.9 7.2 6.4 3.8

Nov 2013

10.5 7.2 6.4 3.4

Dec 2013

9.9 7.0 6.1 3.4

Jan 2014

9.6 6.5 5.9 3.3

Feb 2014

9.8 6.4 6.0 3.4

Mar 2014

9.4 6.3 5.9 3.4

Apr 2014

8.8 6.3 5.6 3.3

May 2014

9.2 6.5 5.5 3.2

Jun 2014

9.1 5.8 5.1 3.3

Jul 2014

9.6 6.1 5.4 3.1

Aug 2014

9.1 6.2 5.4 3.2

Sep 2014

8.3 5.3 5.4 2.9

Oct 2014

7.9 5.7 4.9 3.0

Nov 2014

8.5 5.6 4.9 3.2

Dec 2014

8.6 5.3 4.9 2.9

Jan 2015

8.5 5.4 5.2 2.8

Feb 2015

8.4 5.4 5.1 2.7

Mar 2015

8.6 5.3 4.8 2.5

Apr 2015

8.6 5.4 4.7 2.7

May 2015

8.6 5.8 4.4 2.7

Jun 2015

8.2 5.4 4.2 2.5

Jul 2015

8.3 5.5 4.4 2.6

Aug 2015

7.7 5.5 4.4 2.5

Among workers age 25 and older who graduated high school but did not attend college, the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in August 2015, down from 6.2 percent in August 2014. For workers with less than a high school diploma, the unemployment rate was 7.7 percent in August 2015, down from 9.1 percent a year earlier.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see “The Employment Situation — August 2015” (HTML) (PDF). For more charts featuring Current Population Survey data, see Charting the labor market: Data from the Current Population Survey (PDF).

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Unemployment rates by educational attainment in August 2015 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/unemployment-rates-by-educational-attainment-in-august-2015.htm (visited December 08, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics



triangle