Classifications of Unemployment U1 through U6

U-6 is a broader measure of unemployment including discouraged workers and many consider U-6 to be the Real Unemployment Rate.

U-1 is the narrowest definition of unemployment and U-6 is the broadest measure of unemployment. U-6 includes all classes of Unemployed even those considered marginally attached and/or part-time for economic reasons. In other words, those who would like a full-time job but can only find part-time work. Or perhaps they were working a full-time job and their employer cut their hours rather than actually laying off employees.

 

The six classifications of unemployment that the

Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks are:

• U1 is Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.
• U2 is Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.
• U3 is Official unemployment rate per the International Labor Organization definition. It occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively looked for work within the past four weeks.
• U4 is U3 + discouraged workers, or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
• U5 is U4 + other marginally attached workers, or loosely attached workers, or those who would like and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
• U6 is U5 + Part time workers who want to work full-time, but cannot due to economic reasons, i.e. the economy is bad so their employer cut their hours and they can’t find other work.