The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits increased more than expected last week and the unemployment rate appeared to have picked up in May ...
Are you "functionally unemployed"? Here's what the unemployment rate doesn't show May 27, 2025 / 8:36 AM EDT / CBS News
FTA:
While the unemployment rate remains near a 50-year low, another measure of worker well-being indicates there may be bigger cracks in the labor market.
The low unemployment rate, which stood at 4.2% in April, has signaled to economists and investors alike that the U.S. economy remains relatively healthy. Employers are also continuing to hire despite headwinds like tariffs and plunging consumer confidence.
But another indicator suggests those pieces of government data may be painting an overly rosy picture of the economy, with a recent report from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) finding the "true rate" of unemployment stood at 24.3% in April, up slightly from 24% in March, while the official Bureau of Labor Statistics rate remained unchanged at 4.2% over the same period.
..
cont.
@$9 ... But another indicator suggests those pieces of government data may be painting an overly rosy picture of the economy, with a recent report from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) finding the "true rate" of unemployment stood at 24.3% in April ...
Yeah, that's been cited for years.
The "true rate" of unemployment.
The True Rate of Unemployment (TRU), as defined by LISEP, measures the percentage of the U.S. labor force that is functionally unemployed.
www.lisep.org
... Using data compiled by the federal government's Bureau of Labor Statistics, the True Rate of Unemployment tracks the percentage of the U.S. labor force that does not have a full-time job (35+ hours a week) but wants one, has no job, or does not earn a living wage, conservatively pegged at $25,000 annually before taxes. ...
Yeah, I agree, it's seems to be a measure of those workers who want to do more but are denied that goal.
And that aspect raises so many more questions ...
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