Daily Reminder: Real Unemployment Rate

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U6, often called the "real unemployment rate," includes "Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons," where "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."

Data source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Situation Summary, September 2012, January 2009.

Michael Isenberg is the author of Full Asylum, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on Amazon.com.