The other unemployment rate

U.S. unemployment fell to 7.8% in September. But that doesn’t mean the other 92.2% of adults are working.The unemployment rate only measures people who have searched for jobs in the last four weeks, while millions of other out-of-work Americans aren’t included.

Obama’s economy

A look at where the economy stood when Obama took office and what’s changed since.But some economists think there’s a better way to measure the health of the job market.

 

Along with the official unemployment rate, the Department of Labor also calculates something called the employment-population ratio, which measures the percent of the U.S. adult population that has a job.

The rate currently stands at 58.7%. While it jumps around slightly from month to month, it has essentially been stuck there for three years — close to the lowest level since the 1980s.

That paints a much bleaker picture of the job market than the unemployment rate, which has fallen considerably in the last year.

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