Share of Families With Unemployed Member Reached Record 12.4 Percent, BLS Reports

The share of U.S. families with at least one member unemployed during the year climbed to 12.4 percent in 2010, the highest level since the data series began in 1994, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said March 24.

The 12.4 percent was up 0.4 percentage point from 2009, when it was 12.0 percent. BLS said the proportion represented a total of 9.7 million families who had at least one unemployed member during 2010, about 314,000 higher than the 9.4 million in 2009.

Last year’s figure was nearly double the 6.3 percent of families reporting at least one ...