Labour Market

The hidden unemployment
gap, by state

Underemployment by state is poorly captured by the official jobless rate. The U-6 minus U-3 gap — hidden labour slack — reveals how many workers are part-time against their will or have stopped searching entirely. California leads all states at +4.9 pts. The national average gap is 3.2 pts.

+4.9 Highest gap — California
3.2 National avg gap (pts)
51 States with data
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What are U-3 and U-6?

Official unemployment undercounts the real picture

The headline unemployment rate (U-3) counts only people who are jobless, available for work, and have actively searched in the past four weeks. It excludes two large groups: workers who are part-time for economic reasons (they want full-time work but can only find part-time jobs) and marginally attached workers (those who want a job but have stopped actively searching).

The BLS U-6 rate is the broadest measure of labour underutilization. It includes everyone in U-3, plus part-time-for-economic-reasons workers, plus marginally attached workers (including discouraged workers). The gap between U-6 and U-3 — the hidden labour slack — is what this map shows.

A wider gap means a larger share of the workforce is underemployed or has given up searching, even though they are not counted as officially unemployed. In states with a high hidden slack gap, the true employment picture is meaningfully worse than the headline rate suggests.

State rankings — 2024 annual averages

Underemployment by state — ranked by hidden slack gap

Ranked from widest to narrowest U-6 minus U-3 gap. Data: BLS Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization, 2024 annual averages.

State U-3 U-6 Gap
1 California 5.2% 10.1% +4.9 2 Washington 4.7% 9.0% +4.3 3 Nevada 5.2% 9.3% +4.1 4 Michigan 4.6% 8.5% +3.9 5 Oregon 4.1% 8.0% +3.9 6 New York 4.2% 8.0% +3.8 7 Illinois 4.9% 8.6% +3.7 8 New Jersey 4.5% 8.2% +3.7 9 Colorado 4.4% 8.1% +3.7 10 Delaware 3.5% 7.1% +3.6 11 Georgia 3.4% 7.0% +3.6 12 Texas 4.1% 7.7% +3.6 13 Connecticut 3.5% 7.1% +3.6 14 Florida 3.1% 6.6% +3.5 15 Indiana 4.3% 7.8% +3.5 16 Louisiana 4.4% 7.9% +3.5 17 Oklahoma 3.5% 7.0% +3.5 18 Rhode Island 4.5% 7.9% +3.4 19 Arizona 3.6% 7.0% +3.4 20 Hawaii 3.1% 6.4% +3.3 21 Kentucky 5.2% 8.5% +3.3 22 New Mexico 4.1% 7.4% +3.3 23 Utah 3.6% 6.9% +3.3 24 Maine 3.1% 6.3% +3.2 25 Massachusetts 4.0% 7.2% +3.2 26 North Carolina 3.5% 6.7% +3.2 27 Ohio 4.3% 7.5% +3.2 28 South Carolina 4.2% 7.4% +3.2 29 Kansas 3.8% 6.9% +3.1 30 Maryland 3.9% 7.0% +3.1 31 Minnesota 3.3% 6.4% +3.1 32 District of Columbia 5.2% 8.2% +3.0 33 Nebraska 2.8% 5.8% +3.0 34 Pennsylvania 3.6% 6.6% +3.0 35 Idaho 3.7% 6.6% +2.9 36 Iowa 3.1% 6.0% +2.9 37 Montana 2.9% 5.8% +2.9 38 Virginia 3.0% 5.9% +2.9 39 Alaska 5.0% 7.9% +2.9 40 New Hampshire 2.8% 5.6% +2.8 41 West Virginia 3.9% 6.7% +2.8 42 Arkansas 3.6% 6.4% +2.8 43 Mississippi 3.1% 5.7% +2.6 44 Tennessee 3.3% 5.9% +2.6 45 Wyoming 3.2% 5.8% +2.6 46 Wisconsin 3.0% 5.4% +2.4 47 Missouri 3.5% 5.8% +2.3 48 Vermont 2.4% 4.7% +2.3 49 North Dakota 3.0% 5.2% +2.2 50 Alabama 3.0% 5.1% +2.1 51 South Dakota 1.9% 3.6% +1.7

Methodology

How hidden slack is calculated

Hidden labour slack = U-6 rate − U-3 rate, expressed in percentage points. Both U-3 and U-6 are sourced directly from the BLS Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States, 2024 annual average release. No imputation or interpolation is applied — states without published data are excluded.

The metric is derived, not directly observed: it is the arithmetic difference of two BLS-published rates. Because BLS uses Current Population Survey (CPS) data, state-level estimates carry larger standard errors than national figures. Small year-to-year movements in state rankings should be interpreted with caution.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States, 2024 Annual Averages. bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm

Common questions

FAQ — underemployment & hidden labour slack

What is the labour slack gap?

The labour slack gap is the difference between U-6 (total underutilization) and U-3 (headline unemployment). It measures workers who are part-time for economic reasons or marginally attached to the labour force — people not counted in the official unemployment rate.

Which state has the highest hidden labour slack?

California has the highest hidden labour slack at +4.9 pts — meaning U-6 exceeds the official U-3 unemployment rate by 4.9 percentage points, revealing a substantial pool of underemployed and marginally attached workers not reflected in headline figures.

Related data

More economic stress indicators

Hidden labour slack is one dimension of economic stress. Explore related datasets:

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