{"id":667722,"date":"2026-09-13T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=667722"},"modified":"2026-09-13T12:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T12:45:00","slug":"long-term-us-unemployment-rate-creeps-up-to-27-despite-blockbuster-august-hiring-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=667722","title":{"rendered":"Long-Term US Unemployment Rate Creeps Up To 27% Despite Blockbuster August Hiring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long-Term US Unemployment Rate Creeps Up To 27% Despite Blockbuster August Hiring<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Despite the recent blockbuster August jobs report, the anemic pace of hiring in prior months has been exacerbating challenges for long-term unemployed Americans<\/strong>, new research from the Richmond Federal Reserve finds.<\/p>\n

The long-term unemployment rate – those who are out of work for 27 weeks or longer as a share of the total unemployed – has been steadily climbing since early 2023.<\/p>\n

Of all unemployed Americans in August, more than one-quarter (27 percent), or 1.93 million, had been out of work for a prolonged period<\/strong>, according to last month’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is up from 25.5 percent, or 1.77 million, in July.<\/p>\n

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh gave the labor market glowing marks during his keynote address at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium last month.<\/p>\n

With an unemployment rate hovering around 4 percent over the past couple of years, job conditions would suggest that the Fed has achieved its maximum employment mandate.<\/p>\n

Last month’s nonfarm payrolls also surged by 162,000<\/a>, blowing past the consensus forecast of 56,000.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
A job seeker waits to talk to a recruiter at a job fair in Sunrise, Fla., on Aug. 28, 2025. Marta Lavandier\/AP Photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

But, as\u00a0Andrew Moran reports for The Epoch Times<\/a>,<\/em> the situation might not be optimistic for Americans who have been out of the job market for many months.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year’s sluggish growth in U.S. payrolls is likely to present fresh hurdles for job hunters, regional central bank researchers warn.<\/p>\n

“In the current ‘low-hire, low-fire’ labor market – which features both slower job creation and less job separation activity (including firings and layoffs) – becoming unemployed can be particularly challenging as finding a new job can be more difficult,”<\/strong><\/em> the Richmond Fed economists wrote in a Sept. 1 paper.<\/p>\n

America’s labor market has been entrenched in an environment in which employers are neither increasing headcount nor laying off workers.<\/p>\n

Weekly unemployment claims have been stuck in a historically low range<\/a> of 189,000 to 230,000 – near 57-year lows.<\/strong> The number and layoff rate are near record lows. The jobless rate has been down in 241 of 387 metro areas over the past year.<\/p>\n\n

Continuing jobless claims have also been on a downward trajectory since late 2025, a measurement that could signal two trends in the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n

First, workers are finding it easier to locate job opportunities. Second, Americans have exhausted their benefits since many states cap eligibility at 26 weeks.<\/p>\n

For a growing chorus of workers who have been searching for several months, the search may no longer be worth it, which could help explain the drop in workforce participation.<\/p>\n

“The data have yet to show that job-finding prospects are improving meaningfully for those who have been jobless for an extended duration,” the Richmond Fed said.<\/p>\n

“In particular, those who have been out of work for a year or more are experiencing more challenges seeking reemployment relative to the ‘standard’ long-term unemployed.”<\/p>\n

The U.S. labor force participation rate ticked up to 61.6 percent in August – from 61.4 percent in July – hovering close to its lowest level since the 1970s<\/strong> (excluding the pandemic).<\/p>\n

While part of this can be explained by older workers exiting the labor market, young men are not pursuing employment opportunities.<\/p>\n

The participation rate for males aged 16 to 24 plummeted to around 56 percent last month, from 69 percent in 2000.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Skills Shortage<\/h2>\n

But while job growth has been choppy this year, labor demand has been robust.<\/p>\n

Job vacancies are close to 7.3 million<\/a><\/strong>, and small businesses have indicated they plan to bolster their hiring plans in the coming months.<\/p>\n

The challenge for employers is finding qualified workers to fill these openings.<\/p>\n

According to the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book – a periodic report summarizing economic conditions across the central bank’s 12 districts – employment demand in the construction and manufacturing sectors was “healthy” this summer.<\/p>\n

“Labor availability was mixed. Skilled trades and technical workers were difficult to find,” the report stated.<\/p>\n

It is estimated that employers face a talent gap of approximately 1.3 million workers<\/strong>, according to an Aug. 25 report by labor market intelligence firm Lightcast.<\/p>\n

Additionally, seven of the 10 most in-demand skilled-trade occupations – construction, electricians, and technicians, for example – already face significant labor shortages.<\/p>\n

“The impending lack of skilled trades workers has been a resounding issue in our economy for years,” Ron Hetrick, principal economist at Lightcast, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The skills shortage comes at a time when the United States is witnessing a rebirth of manufacturing amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.<\/p>\n

The data-center expansion has already brought on about 315,000 additional skilled-trade workers in the past five years<\/strong>, the report found.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSun, 09\/13\/2026 – 08:45<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long-Term US Unemployment Rate Creeps Up To 27% Despite Blockbuster August Hiring Despite the recent blockbuster August jobs report, the anemic pace of hiring in prior months has been exacerbating challenges for long-term unemployed Americans, new research from the Richmond Federal Reserve finds. The long-term unemployment rate – those who are out of work for… Continue reading Long-Term US Unemployment Rate Creeps Up To 27% Despite Blockbuster August Hiring<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":667715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-667722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=667722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/667715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=667722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=667722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=667722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}