Overall, 14.5 million U.S. workers experienced some unemployment in 2005, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Approximately 400,000 of these were persons who worked year round but were unemployed for one to two weeks.
Of the 11.7 million persons who worked during part of the year and also experienced some unemployment, about 4 million were unemployed for periods ranging from 1 to 10 weeks. About 5 million were unemployed for periods ranging from 11 to 26 weeks. The remaining indviduals were unemployed for 27 weeks or longer.
About 2.4 million individuals looked for a job, but did not work at all in 2005.
In 2005, among those who experienced unemployment, the median number of weeks spent looking for work was 14.6; half were unemployed for a shorter period, half for a longer period.
This data is from the Current Population Survey. To learn more, see Work Experience of the Population in 2005, USDL news release 07-0199. Data refers to people 16 years of age and older. Time worked includes paid vacation and sick leave.
