How many millions of people are unemployed in the United States?

This is a simple, yet deceptively complex question.

For example, a person without a job who has completely stopped looking for employment is not, technically, in the labor market. Thus, they’re not officially unemployed.

Now let’s suppose someone has been laid off and only works a few hours a week part-time to make ends meet until they find another full-time job. That person is also not considered to be unemployed, either.

Naturally, when so many people without jobs are excluded from the statistics, there seem to be fewer people without jobs – or actually unemployed.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are 7.4 million unemployed Americans. Dividing this figure by the size of the labor force produces a headline (U3) unemployment rate of 4.7%.

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