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June 2011, No. 287
Last Updated: 04/25/2011

Explaining the Recent Decline in the Unemployment Rate

Lisa Barrow

The unemployment rate fell by nearly 1 percentage point between November 2010 and March 2011. Was this drop due to unemployed workers exhausting their unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and choosing to stop looking for work or due to more positive labor market developments, such as fewer workers losing their jobs or more workers finding new jobs?