The official unemployment rate in the US is 5%. But that number includes only those who are both unemployed and who are actively looking for work. It does not include those who are so discouraged that they have stopped looking (whether for the moment or for the long term) or those who have taken part-time work to get by while doing full-time work.
Take a look at this table from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Look at measure U-6, which shows a total un/underemployment rate of 8.8%. Three percent of the labor force is scraping by with a series of part-time jobs instead of a full-time job.
The government is, in essence, writing off 3.8% of the labor force. They don't count to the Feds.
You might want to ask yourself why this is so.
Krugman's column in today's paper is worth a read, too.
(H/T to BadTux)
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