(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.
