UNEMPLOYED
Total Donated
$26,632,372
Contributions
303,127
Unique Donors
4,657
Donors who listed UNEMPLOYED as occupation posted $26,632,372 in itemized federal receipts in LobbyVault’s FEC.gov bulk index. Those receipts are 303,127 contributions from 4,657 donor records. UNEMPLOYED is an employment-status word, not a trade. The contribution count is large relative to the dollars: this is a high-repeat status key. In compact form the occupation total is $26.6 million.
Key figures
- UNEMPLOYED itemizations sum to $26,632,372 from 303,127 contributions and 4,657 donors.
- Repeat giving is about 65 lines per donor record; mean gift size is about $88.
- The word is employment-status text on Form 3/3X schedules, not a BLS series.
- Quote the contribution count with the dollars so the high-repeat pattern is visible.
303,127 lines and a low mean gift
Mean contribution size is about $88, the lowest per-line mean in this harvest band. Mean dollars per donor record is about $5,719. Repeat giving is about 65 itemizations per donor record—far above professional titles that post similar headline dollars on fewer lines.
The shape is frequent small itemizations from a mid-size donor pool. A citation that quotes only $26,632,372 hides that pattern. Quote 303,127 contributions with the dollars.
These means are arithmetic. The packet has no median. A few large itemizations can still sit inside the average.
Status text, not a labor-force statistic
FEC occupation is self-reported. The bulk file does not verify unemployment insurance status, duration out of work, or whether the donor later listed a different occupation on other gifts. RETIRED, NOT EMPLOYED, and HOMEMAKER (if present as separate keys) are not rolled into this total unless normalized here.
This page cites only $26,632,372, 303,127 contributions, and 4,657 donors. The word is not a Bureau of Labor Statistics series.
Full analysis: What UNEMPLOYED donors give in federal races →
Questions
- How much have UNEMPLOYED donors given in FEC records?
- Itemizations that list UNEMPLOYED sum to $26,632,372 across 303,127 contributions and 4,657 donor records in the LobbyVault index of FEC bulk data. The figure is an occupation-string total, not a labor-force statistic. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.
- Why are there so many UNEMPLOYED contributions?
- 303,127 is a transaction count. Repeat giving is about 65 itemizations per donor record among 4,657 donors. Committees itemize each gift that meets the reporting threshold. Mean gift size is about $88. The packet has no median. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.
- Is RETIRED included in the UNEMPLOYED total?
- No. RETIRED and other status words are separate occupation strings unless the extract normalized them to UNEMPLOYED. This page covers UNEMPLOYED: $26,632,372, 303,127 contributions, and 4,657 donors. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.
- Does UNEMPLOYED encode party or income?
- No. Occupation is self-reported free text. The column does not encode party, and it does not verify income or unemployment-insurance status. Quote 303,127 contributions and 4,657 donor records with the $26,632,372 headline. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total.
Occupation is self-reported on FEC Form 3/3X itemizations. Indexed on LobbyVault from FEC bulk data.