(ECONOMICS)
Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly publishes
six estimates of unemployment. The others are U-1, U-3, U-
4, U-5, and U-
6. Eurostat publishes
one monthly estimate of unemployment for the European Union, which is approximately midway between U-3 and U-4.
The unemployment statistics for the USA are collected through a monthly Current Population Survey (
CPS) (also known as the household survey) and an establishment survey.
As a measure of
unemployment, U-2 focuses on workers who must abruptly deal with the loss of income after having lost their
job or recently finished temporary employment. It is nearly
always more than U-1, but there are occasional exceptions.