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    Another important measure of how an economy is performing is the unemployment rate. But there is more to the unemployment rate than just the headline rate reported on the news.
    In particular we are going to look at the U3 rate (the Headline rate) the U6 rate and the labor force participation rate.
    Go to theBureau of Labor Statistics
    On their home page from the menu on the right hand side of the page Latest Numbers click on Unemployment Rate. On the next page click on Employment Situation Summary. The April 2017report is available. Read the report. Then using Table A-15 linked from the bottom of the report find:
    The U3 rate and the U6 rate.
    Find the labor force participation rate in the main body of the report. While it was basically unchanged in 2016 go to the BLS page at https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000to see the rate forthe past 10 years.
    What are the differences among these measures? Note the percentages of each what each measure includes and then express your views on what factors may be causing the U6 rate to be roughly twice the U3 rate.
    Also what may be causing the decline in the labor participation rate over the past 10 years? If you extend the chart you will see that the rate is the lowest it has been since about 1978.
    Is the headline unemployment rate used by most news reports misleading?
    For your information here is a summary of the six unemployment measures.

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