The broadest measure of labor underutilization, U6, includes not only all unemployed or marginally attached persons, but also those employed part time for ” ECONOMIC REASONS”.. This latter group provides an objective measure of a portion of the underemployed (the so-called “involuntary part-time workers”). The BLS defines “part-time workers” as those who worked less than 35 hours during the reference week of the Current Population Survey. To be classified as employed part time for economic reasons, an individual must also be working part time because of poor business conditions or because of the inability to find full-time work and must want and be available for full-time work. Involuntary, part-time employment does not capture all underemployed (such as those whose education may qualify them for a more highly skilled position). It does provide an objective measure of those who are visibly (that is, objectively classified) underemployed. Since 1994, the number of involuntary part-time workers has accounted for roughly 2 percent to 4 percent of the nation’s workforce. Using the broadest measure of labor underutilization tracked by the BLS, U6, nearly 9 percent of the civilian labor force augmented with all marginally attached workers were unemployed, marginally attached to the labor force, or visibly underemployed.

The GRAPH is below —

Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization

Measure: Definition:

U1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force

U2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force

U3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (the official unemployment rate)

U4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers

U5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers

U6 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

Note: Marginally attached workers are those who 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 marginally attached workers, have given a job-market-related reason for not currently looking 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.