Length of unemployment by occupation, 2006.(Brief article)

Finding a job takes time. But just how much time depends, in part, on the occupation in which you're seeking employment.

Each month, the Current Population Survey asks unemployed people how long they have been looking for work. In 2006, as the chart shows, unemployed people in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations had been looking for work for the fewest median number of weeks, compared with people in other occupational groups. Why the difference?

One reason might be that workers in some occupations are more likely to wait for a specific type of job befo