HOUSEHOLD DATA HOUSEHOLD DATA
Table A-12. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
(Percent)
Not seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted
Measure
Apr. Mar. Apr. Apr. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr.
2007 2008 2008 2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008
U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent
of the civilian labor force....................... 1.6 1.8 1.9 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.7
U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary
jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force.... 2.1 3.0 2.6 2.2 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.7 2.6
U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian
labor force (official unemployment rate).......... 4.3 5.2 4.8 4.5 5.0 4.9 4.8 5.1 5.0
U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a
percent of the civilian labor force plus
discouraged workers............................... 4.6 5.5 5.0 4.7 5.2 5.2 5.1 5.3 5.2
U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus
all other marginally attached workers, as a
percent of the civilian labor force plus all
marginally attached workers....................... 5.2 6.1 5.6 5.3 5.8 6.0 5.8 5.9 5.8
U-6 Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached
workers, plus total employed part time for
economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian
labor force plus all marginally attached
workers........................................... 7.9 9.3 8.9 8.2 8.8 9.0 8.9 9.1 9.2
NOTE: Marginally attached workers are persons 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 recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached,
have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. 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. For more information, see "BLS intro-
duces new range of alternative unemployment measures," in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. Updated population con-
trols are introduced annually with the release of January data.