Long-term unemployment affects 1 in 4 U.S. job seekers

It now takes more than 23 weeks on average for an unemployed person in the US to find a new job. For 1 in 4 unemployed people, or 1.8 million Americans, they are still job hunting six months later.  

Long-term unemployment is now at its highest level in three years. That’s not great news for those affected by the layoffs sweeping through companies like Target, Amazon, Nike and Pinterest in the first months of the year. 

As of January 2026, there are 386,000 more long-term unemployed...