Principles of Macroeconomics / Unit 5 MAC 0409 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Alternative Measures
Captions available
The idea
Because one definition cannot capture everything, the statistics agency publishes six measures, U-one through U-six. U-three is the official rate.
In practice
U-one counts only the long-term unemployed; U-six adds the marginally attached and involuntary part-timers.
Where people slip
U-six is always the largest and U-one the smallest, so quoting a rate without saying which measure it is tells you little.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for Principles of Macroeconomics