U.S. employment climbed 15.7 million from the 2020 trough to a 163.5 million average in 2025, then eased in 2026

Asked:

“what are the employment figures for the us from 2020 to 2026”

Total employed people age 16 and over from the U.S. household survey (employees plus the self-employed): annual averages for 2020–2025 from one official BLS table, plus the latest single month — August 2026, seasonally adjusted — from the official Department of Labor release. A full-year 2026 average does not yet exist, so the 2026 point is one month and not comparable to the annual bars beside it. Most annual rows are single-sourced from that one BLS table URL.

Total employed, millions of people

Solid line: annual averages 2020–2025 · dashed segment and hollow marker: August 2026, a single seasonally adjusted month, not an annual average

Employment–population ratio and unemployment rate, %

Same periods; 2026 is August only. Blue: share of the 16+ population employed. Orange: unemployment rate

Employment rose 15.698 million from the pandemic-depressed 2020 average (147.795m) to the 2025 average (163.493m). bls.gov

Growth slowed sharply after 2023: +0.309m in 2024 versus +2.746m in 2023; 2025 rebounded with +2.147m. bls.gov

August 2026 employment of 162.746 million sits 0.747 million below the 2025 annual average, with unemployment at 4.1%. dol.gov

The employment–population ratio peaked at 60.3% in 2023 and slipped to 59.1% by August 2026, even as total employment stayed near record levels; the annual totals are independently corroborated by BLS-derived pages. listbase.org

The figures

Period	Employed, millions	Change, millions	Emp.–pop. ratio %	Unemployment %	Source

Method: U.S. Current Population Survey (household survey) total employed, age 16+, including the self-employed — not nonfarm payroll jobs. Seven observations: 2020–2025 annual averages from BLS table cpsaat01 (the 2025 BLS annual estimate is an 11-month average excluding October) and August 2026, seasonally adjusted, from the official DOL Employment Situation release of Sept. 4, 2026. Monthly 2025–26 corroborating releases were consulted but omitted from the table for space. Change column is the difference from the prior row; the 2026 row compares one month to an annual average.

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