page_title: Unemployment in the United States
section_title: Analytical perspectives
hierarchical_section_title: Unemployment in the United States / Analytical perspectives
caption_attribution_description: English: US employment statistics from the FRED database. This table should help in learning the key FRED employment data series and how they relate mathematically. Other information US employment statistics from the FRED database. This table should help in learning the key FRED employment data series and how they relate mathematically.
context_page_description: Unemployment in the United States discusses the causes and measures of U.S. unemployment and strategies for reducing it. Job creation and unemployment are affected by factors such as economic conditions, global competition, education, automation, and demographics. These factors can affect the number of workers, the duration of unemployment, and wage levels.
context_section_description: Analyzing the true state of the U.S. labor market is very complex and a challenge for leading economists, who may arrive at different conclusions. For example, the main gauge, the unemployment rate, can be falling (a positive sign) while the labor force participation rate is falling as well (a negative sign). Further, the reasons for persons leaving the labor force may not be clear, such as aging (more people retiring) or because they are discouraged and have stopped looking for work. The extent to which persons are not fully utilizing their skills is also difficult to determine when measuring the level of underemployment.
  A rough comparison of September 2014 (when the unemployment rate was 5.9%) versus October 2009 (when the unemployment rate peaked at 10.0%) helps illustrate the analytical challenge. The civilian population increased by roughly 10 million during that time, with the labor force increasing by about 2 million and those not in the labor force increasing by about 8 million. However, the 2 million increase in the labor force represents the net of an 8 million increase in those employed, partially offset by a 6 million decline in those unemployed. So is the primary cause of improvement in the unemployment rate due to: a) increased employment of 8 million; or b) the increase in those not in the workforce, also 8 million? Did the 6 million fewer unemployed obtain jobs or leave the workforce?
caption: Employment statistics from the FRED database, comparing June 2015 and October 2009. Many of the mathematical relationships between the variables are shown.
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