factually
Index/Topics/Unemployment Rates 1929-1936

Unemployment Rates 1929-1936

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' reconstructed annual unemployment series for 1929–1939, including the official annual unemployment rates used by most historians and comparisons with independent reconstructions.

Fact-Checks

1 result
Jan 11, 2026
Most Viewed

What were the official U.S. unemployment rates by year from 1929 to 1936 according to BLS and historical reconstructions?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ reconstructed annual unemployment series for 1929–1939—published in a 1948 technical note and later loaded into BLS databases—provides the “official” annual unemploymen...