Are women or men more likely to be unemployed in the US?
Unemployment as a share of each sex in the labour force. The two track each other closely, and which one is higher has switched more than once.
Women
4.2
% of labour force
Men
4.2
% of labour force
Difference
0
no measured difference
Figures for 2025, the most recent year in the series.
Neither direction is straightforwardly good or bad here: the denominator is the labour force, so a group with many people not looking for work can post a low rate.
The shaded band is the gap, measured in % of labour force. It was widest in 2009 at
2.3, narrowest in 2005 at
0, and stood at 0 in 2025.
Series runs 1991–2025, 35 years with both sexes reported.
What this number counts
Unemployment rate: people without work who are available for work and have actively looked for it, as a share of the labour force of that sex — not as a share of the whole population.
The denominator excludes anyone not looking for work, which matters for comparing two groups that participate at different rates.
What this number does not say
A lower rate is not automatically better. Because the denominator is the labour force, a group where fewer people look for work can show a lower unemployment rate while a smaller share of them are employed.
It does not capture underemployment. Part-time work for someone who wants full-time hours counts as employed.
It does not count discouraged workers, who have given up looking and are outside the labour force entirely.
It is a modelled ILO estimate, not a direct count. The International Labour Organization fills gaps between national surveys with a statistical model, so single-year movements are less meaningful than the shape of the series.
Source
World Bank World Development Indicators. Compiled by the World Bank from UN agencies, the ILO and national statistical sources. Indicators SL.UEM.TOTL.FE.ZS · SL.UEM.TOTL.MA.ZS.