ALTERNATIVE UNEMPLOYMENT RATES: The official unemployment rate estimated and reported monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) using data from Current Population Survey is one of six alternative measures of unemployment tracked by the BLS, officially labeled U1-U6. The "official" unemployment rate is U3. The other five measures seek to document different ways in which labor can be underutilized, including unemployment duration, job losers, discouraged workers, marginally-attached workers, and part-time workers. See also | unemployment | unemployment rate | Bureau of Labor Statistics | Current Population Survey | discouraged workers | marginally-attached workers | part-time workers |