Labour Market · U-6 vs U-3 · Updated July 2026

Hidden unemployment by state —
U-6 vs U-3 underemployment gap

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. Nevada leads all states at +5.0 pts. The national average gap is 3.5 pts.

+5.0 Highest gap — Nevada
3.5 National avg gap (pts)
51 States with data
Explore the map

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 — 2025 (11-month averages, Oct excluded)

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, 2025 (11-month averages; October excluded due to federal government shutdown).

State U-3 U-6 Gap
1 Nevada 4.8% 9.8% +5.0 2 California 5.3% 10.2% +4.9 3 Maine 3.2% 7.5% +4.3 4 New Mexico 4.2% 8.4% +4.2 5 Oregon 5.4% 9.6% +4.2 6 Washington 5.0% 9.2% +4.2 7 Arizona 4.3% 8.5% +4.2 8 Florida 3.8% 7.9% +4.1 9 Colorado 4.0% 8.1% +4.1 10 District of Columbia 6.0% 10.0% +4.0 11 Illinois 4.6% 8.6% +4.0 12 Michigan 5.2% 9.2% +4.0 13 Texas 4.1% 8.0% +3.9 14 Virginia 4.3% 8.2% +3.9 15 Alaska 5.1% 9.0% +3.9 16 New Jersey 4.9% 8.7% +3.8 17 New York 4.2% 8.0% +3.8 18 Rhode Island 4.8% 8.6% +3.8 19 Kentucky 4.6% 8.3% +3.7 20 Connecticut 4.5% 8.2% +3.7 21 Indiana 3.5% 7.1% +3.6 22 Maryland 4.4% 8.0% +3.6 23 Minnesota 4.3% 7.9% +3.6 24 Delaware 5.5% 9.0% +3.5 25 Montana 3.3% 6.8% +3.5 26 Oklahoma 3.8% 7.2% +3.4 27 Arkansas 4.5% 7.9% +3.4 28 Louisiana 4.3% 7.6% +3.3 29 Ohio 4.8% 8.1% +3.3 30 South Carolina 4.2% 7.5% +3.3 31 Utah 3.7% 7.0% +3.3 32 Georgia 3.3% 6.5% +3.2 33 Hawaii 2.5% 5.7% +3.2 34 Mississippi 3.9% 7.1% +3.2 35 Tennessee 3.6% 6.8% +3.2 36 West Virginia 3.9% 7.1% +3.2 37 Iowa 4.0% 7.1% +3.1 38 Kansas 3.6% 6.7% +3.1 39 Massachusetts 4.5% 7.6% +3.1 40 Nebraska 3.2% 6.3% +3.1 41 Pennsylvania 4.3% 7.4% +3.1 42 Wisconsin 3.4% 6.5% +3.1 43 Idaho 3.5% 6.5% +3.0 44 Vermont 2.8% 5.8% +3.0 45 Wyoming 3.4% 6.4% +3.0 46 North Carolina 3.5% 6.4% +2.9 47 New Hampshire 3.2% 5.9% +2.7 48 North Dakota 2.8% 5.5% +2.7 49 Missouri 3.8% 6.4% +2.6 50 Alabama 2.7% 5.3% +2.6 51 South Dakota 2.5% 5.0% +2.5

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, 2025 release (11-month averages; October excluded due to federal government shutdown). 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, 2025 (11-month averages). bls.gov/lau/stalt25q4.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?

Nevada has the highest hidden labour slack at +5.0 pts — meaning U-6 exceeds the official U-3 unemployment rate by 5.0 percentage points, revealing a substantial pool of underemployed and marginally attached workers not reflected in headline figures.

What is the difference between U-3 and U-6 unemployment?

U-3 is the official headline unemployment rate — it counts only people who are jobless, available for work, and actively seeking employment. U-6 is a broader measure that also includes discouraged workers who have stopped looking, marginally attached workers, and people working part-time who want full-time work. The gap between U-6 and U-3 reveals the true scale of labour underutilization beyond the headline figure.

What is the national average underemployment gap?

The national average hidden labour slack — the gap between U-6 and U-3 — is 3.5 percentage points across all 50 states and DC, based on 2025 BLS data (11-month averages; October excluded due to the federal government shutdown). This means the true labour underutilization rate is roughly 3.5 points higher than the headline unemployment figure in a typical state.

Related data

More economic stress indicators

Hidden labour slack is one dimension of economic stress. Explore related datasets on household financial pressure across US counties and states:

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