What is the Unemployment Rate Anyway?
People throw out various numbers for the unemployment rate. Where do they come from and what do they mean? It turns out that that Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates a bunch of numbers monthly. The "official rate" of unemployment for January, February & March 2010 has remained at 9.7% and called "U-3," total unemployed as a percent of the civilian labor force (seasonally adjusted). There are actually six unemployment numbers (U1, "persons unemployed 15 weeks ..." to U6, "total unemployed plus discourage workers, part-timers, etc."), at 16.5% for March, seasonally adjusted. This is the often reported number for those claiming what terrible shape the economy is in. Many unemployment numbers can be used—it just depends on the point you’re trying to prove.
The complete table from the BLS is:
|
Measure |
Not seasonally adjusted |
Seasonally adjusted |
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|
Mar. |
Feb. |
Mar. |
Mar. |
Nov. |
Dec. |
Jan. |
Feb. |
Mar. |
|
|
U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force |
4.1 |
6.0 |
6.3 |
3.8 |
5.8 |
5.9 |
5.8 |
5.8 |
5.8 |
|
U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force |
6.1 |
7.0 |
6.7 |
5.5 |
6.5 |
6.3 |
6.1 |
6.2 |
6.1 |
|
U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate) |
9.0 |
10.4 |
10.2 |
8.6 |
10.0 |
10.0 |
9.7 |
9.7 |
9.7 |
|
U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers |
9.4 |
11.1 |
10.8 |
9.0 |
10.5 |
10.5 |
10.3 |
10.4 |
10.3 |
|
U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other persons marginally attached to the labor force, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force |
10.3 |
11.9 |
11.5 |
9.9 |
11.3 |
11.4 |
11.2 |
11.1 |
11.1 |
|
U-6 Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force |
16.2 |
17.9 |
17.5 |
15.6 |
17.2 |
17.3 |
16.5 |
16.8 |
16.9 |
|
NOTE: Persons marginally attached to the labor force are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not currently looking for work. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. |
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