Long-Term Unemployment

Long-term unemployment refers to joblessness that persists beyond a set duration threshold, defined by the European Union as lasting longer than one year and by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics as twenty seven weeks or longer. It is treated as a component of structural unemployment and can affect workers across every demographic group, industry and education level. Economists and policymakers track long-term unemployment because it signals persistent difficulty in the labor market and the risk that affected workers' skills deteriorate the longer they remain without work, helping distinguish a temporary downturn from a deeper structural problem.