Economy picked up 266,000 jobs in April, fewer than expected as economy tries to rebound

[mahatmakanejeeves]

29. TED: The Economics Daily. U-3 was 6.1 percent, U-6 was 10.4 percent, in April 2021

TED: The Economics Daily

U-3 was 6.1 percent, U-6 was 10.4 percent, in April 2021

MAY 12, 2021

The official unemployment rate, also called U-3, was 6.1 percent in April 2021. The April 2021 rate was little changed from the previous month's rate of 6.0 percent. The unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in both January and February 2020. It rose to 4.4 percent in March and reached 14.8 percent in April of last year. It has generally trended down since then.

{snip interactive chart}

The April unemployment rate of 6.1 percent was calculated from the 9.8 million unemployed people among the 161.0 million people in the labor force, which is the sum of employed and unemployed people. People were counted as unemployed if they were not employed during the week that included April 12th, had actively sought work during the preceding 4 weeks or were waiting to be recalled from a temporary layoff, and could have started a job if they had received an offer.

BLS publishes six "alternative measures of labor underutilization," known as U-1 through U-6, in each month's Employment Situation news release. As mentioned above, the U-3 rate is the total number of unemployed people as a percentage of the labor force. U-1 and U-2 are more narrowly defined and are always lower than the official unemployment rate, while U-4, U-5, and U-6 are more broadly defined and always higher.

The U-1 rate, which includes only people who were unemployed for 15 weeks or longer was 3.3 percent in April 2021. The U-2 rate, which includes only unemployed people who lost their jobs or completed temporary jobs, was 4.0 percent.

The most broadly defined rate, U-6, includes unemployed people, plus people who are "marginally attached" to the labor force, plus people who work part time for economic reasons. The marginally attached are neither working nor looking for work but want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months. People who work part time for economic reasons are those that would have preferred full-time employment, but were working part time because their hours had been cut or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

The U-6 rate was 10.4 percent in April 2021. This was less than half what it was a year earlier when it was 22.9 percent, which was the highest level recorded since the measure was introduced in 1994.

{snip}

* * * * *

[center]Facilities for Sensory Impaired[/center]

Information from these releases will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: [phone], Federal Relay Services: 1-800-877-8339.