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Looking Beyond the 4.5% 'Official Unemployment Rate'

April 7, 2017

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today a drop in the national unemployment rate to a healthy 4.5%. So why are are analysts saying the unemployment numbers, along with news of the air strike on Syria, are depressing stock market prices?

 

That's because, the official unemployment rate of 4.5%, referred to as the "U-3" rate and defined as "total employed, as a percent of the civilian labor force," is not what economists use as an indicator of the nation's economic health.

 

Instead, they use the "U-6" rate, defined as all unemployed (those included in the 'U-3' rate), "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." That statistic stands at 8.9%, which remains above the levels before the recession.