Glossary
Unemployment rate
The share of people in the labor force who are jobless and actively seeking work, reported monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Also called: U-3, headline unemployment, U-6
The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labor force that is without a job and has actively looked for work in the past four weeks. The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces the official figure, called U-3, from a monthly survey of about 60,000 households.
People are counted as unemployed only if they are available for and searching for work, so those who have given up looking ("discouraged workers") or who work part time but want full-time work are not included in the headline rate. Broader measures such as U-6 add those groups. Economists refer to a "natural rate" of unemployment, the level consistent with stable inflation, which is not fixed.
The rate is a key indicator of the economy's health and one half of the Federal Reserve's dual mandate. It tends to rise during a recession and fall in expansions; it rose to about 14.8 percent in April 2020 and fell to levels near 3.5 percent by 2023. Critics note the rate can mislead when the labor force participation rate changes, and politicians on both sides cite favorable or unfavorable numbers. Reliability of data collection, including survey response rates, has been discussed.
Last reviewed November 8, 2026