ANALYSIS: Lawyer Jobs Up, but Legal Unemployment Is on the Rise

Employment rates for lawyers and other legal occupations reached one of the highest levels in the past decade—reflecting a renewed strength in the market since the pandemic.

From Q2 to Q3, lawyer employment jumped from 1.13 million to 1.28 million—a 13% increase following the two previous quarters of decline—reaching one of the highest levels in the past 10 years with the exception of Q4 2019.

Legal employment overall (including lawyers, paralegals, and law clerks) grew 5.3% from a quarterly average of 1.9 million in Q2 to 2.0 million in Q3, while legal employment for men surged 15% from 878,000 to 1.01 million.

Women fared worse, however, with legal employment decreasing from 1.0 million to 976,000 during the same period, a 2.4% decline.

At the same time, legal field unemployment rates crept up for men and women, dashing hopes for a continuation of the historic lows seen in the second quarter.

From Q2 to Q3, the unemployment rate for lawyers grew from 0.1% to 0.4%. The average quarterly unemployment rate for overall legal employment climbed from 0.43% to 0.93%. Breaking the rate down, it increased from 0.17% to 0.47% for men, and from 0.67% to 1.43% for women.

The legal field as a whole, as well as the subset of men in the field, saw growth in employment and unemployment, indicating that while these groups experienced job growth between quarters, more workers have also been joining or rejoining the workforce.

The employment rates for women fell while their unemployment rates rose, meaning that women in the legal field faced more voluntary or involuntary employment pauses between quarters. Many in this group are now likely looking for work and are presumably competing for jobs against other women who are reentering the legal job market and women who recently graduated from law school.

Bloomberg Law subscribers can find related content on our In Focus: Lawyer Development and Lawyer Development Toolkit pages.

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