Tracker
U-6 Underemployment Rate
Unemployment plus discouraged and involuntary part-time workers.
8.1%
Percent · latest, May 2026
vs prior month ▼ 0.1 pp
vs year ago ▲ 0.3 pp
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Source: FRED · U6RATE · series · Jan 1994 to May 2026
· latest-revised
Reading it. The broadest official measure of labor underutilization. Always runs above the U-3 headline rate because it counts discouraged workers and involuntary part-timers that U-3 leaves out.
About the bands. Shaded spans are NBER-dated US recessions, drawn as factual overlays. They mark when the economy contracted, not why. Lining an event or policy up with a move on this chart is not evidence that it caused the move.