What Separates the 4.2% U-3 Rate From the 7.6% U-6 in September's Jobs Report

The unemployment rate in each monthly jobs report comes from a household survey. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) builds it from the Current Population Survey, which asks people about work and job search in a single reference week. The headline figure, known as U-3, was 4.2% in September 2026, seasonally adjusted, up 0.1 percentage point from 4.1% in August.

The same BLS table also reports U-6, the broadest measure, which was 7.6% for September. The gap between the two depends on which groups each measure counts.

Who Counts as Employed, Unemployed or Outside the Labor Force

The survey covers people age 16 and older in the civilian noninstitutional population. Anyone who did any paid work for at least one hour in the reference week is employed. So are people who worked in their own business or farm, people who worked 15 or more hours as unpaid workers in a family business, and people temporarily absent from a job for reasons such as illness or vacation. The reference week is generally the week that includes the 12th of the month.

To be unemployed, a person must meet three conditions. They did not work in the reference week, they were available for work, and they made a specific, active effort to find work during the four weeks ending with the reference week. Two exceptions apply. A person on temporary layoff who is waiting to be recalled does not need to have searched. A person waiting to start a new job must have searched within the last four weeks.

The labor force is the employed plus the unemployed. Everyone else age 16 and older falls outside the labor force. U-3 is the number of unemployed divided by the labor force.

How the Monthly Household Survey Is Run

The Technical Note in the September 2026 Employment Situation release says the household survey draws on about 60,000 eligible households. The monthly figures are seasonally adjusted, as BLS reports them.

Because the figures come from a sample, they carry sampling error. The release gives a confidence interval of about plus or minus 0.3 percentage point for the monthly change in the unemployment rate, but it attaches that figure to a rate of around 6.0%. It does not state a separate interval for the 4.2% rate. The 4.2% rate is therefore not covered by that interval.

The series also has a gap. According to BLS's Economics Daily note on the September report, data for October 2025 were not collected because of the federal government shutdown, so that month is blank in the tables.

Six Measures in Table A-15, From U-1 to U-6

BLS publishes six alternative measures of labor underutilization in Table A-15 of the Employment Situation. For September 2026, seasonally adjusted, they were U-1 at 1.8%, U-2 at 1.9%, U-3 at 4.2%, U-4 at 4.4%, U-5 at 5.0% and U-6 at 7.6%.

U-1 counts people unemployed for 15 weeks or longer, as a share of the labor force. U-2 counts job losers and people who completed temporary jobs. U-3 is the official rate: total unemployed as a share of the labor force.

Each broader measure adds a group. U-4 adds discouraged workers to both the numerator and the denominator. U-5 adds all other marginally attached people. U-6 adds people working part time for economic reasons. U-5 and U-6 divide by a labor force that also includes all marginally attached people.

Discouraged and Marginally Attached Workers, Defined

Marginally attached people want a job and are available to take one. They have looked for work at some point in the previous 12 months, or since the end of their last job if they held one in that period. Because they did not search in the previous four weeks, they are not counted as unemployed. The 12-month test places them in the group, and the four-week test keeps them out of U-3.

Discouraged workers are a subset of the marginally attached. They are not searching for a job because of a reason tied to the job market. BLS lists examples: a belief that no suitable jobs exist, an earlier failure to find work, lack of needed schooling, or a perception of age or other discrimination. The other marginally attached are not searching for reasons such as family responsibilities, childcare, transportation problems or illness.

Part-time workers for economic reasons want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. U-6 includes them, along with the unemployed and all marginally attached people.

Reading U-3 Against U-6 in the Current Jobs Market

In September 2026 the gap between U-6 at 7.6% and U-3 at 4.2% was 3.4 percentage points. That difference reflects the groups U-6 adds: marginally attached people who are not counted as unemployed, and part-time workers who want full-time hours.

According to BLS, the headline rate has stayed between 4.1% and 4.3% since March 2026. In September the number of unemployed was about 7.1 million (7,109,000), up 78,000 from August. The same release reported nonfarm payroll growth of 29,000 for the month.

The two rates describe overlapping parts of the same market. U-3 covers people who are available and actively searching. U-6 adds people who want work but are not currently searching, and people who want more hours.

For a monthly report, the checks are straightforward. Take the headline rate from the summary, read U-4 through U-6 from Table A-15 on the same basis, and check the Technical Note for the sample size and the interval BLS publishes.