Money & budgets
unemployment rate
The share of the labor force without a job and actively looking. People who stopped looking are not counted, which is why the rate can fall for bad reasons.
In full
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes several measures. The headline U-3 rate counts only active jobseekers; the broader U-6 adds discouraged workers and people working part time who want full-time work. The labor force participation rate is a separate figure, and reading the three together is the only way to tell a strong market from a shrinking one.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.