NYS Department of Labor unemployment stats - why aren't non-job seekers counted?
I've been trying to understand something about unemployment statistics and NYS Department of Labor reporting. My brother has been out of work for 8 months but stopped looking because he's going back to school in the fall. When I check the official unemployment numbers, it seems like people in his situation aren't being counted even though they're clearly unemployed. Does anyone know why the NYS Department of Labor and other agencies exclude people who aren't actively job searching from their unemployment figures? It makes the numbers seem artificially low to me.
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Zara Mirza
The unemployment rate specifically measures people who are actively seeking work and available to work immediately. Your brother would be classified as 'not in the labor force' rather than unemployed in official statistics. The NYS Department of Labor follows federal Bureau of Labor Statistics definitions - you have to be actively job searching within the past 4 weeks to count as unemployed. People going to school, retired, or who've given up looking fall into different categories.
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Sean Kelly
•That makes sense but seems misleading. So the 'real' unemployment is actually higher than what gets reported?
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Luca Russo
yeah this confused me too when i was between jobs last year. basically if you're not filing weekly claims with NYS Department of Labor or actively applying places they dont count you as unemployed. its about measuring people who want jobs right now vs people who are just not working for whatever reason
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Nia Harris
•Exactly. There's actually something called the 'labor force participation rate' that captures more of the full picture, but that doesn't get as much media attention as the unemployment rate.
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GalaxyGazer
This is actually really important for understanding the job market! The official unemployment rate only includes people who are ready, willing, and able to work AND have looked for work in the past month. Students, people taking care of family, early retirees, and discouraged workers who've stopped looking all get excluded. When I was dealing with NYS Department of Labor for my claim last year, the counselor explained that even people on certain types of standby status might not show up in the main unemployment statistics depending on their job search activity.
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Sean Kelly
•Wait, so even some people getting unemployment benefits might not be counted in the unemployment rate? That's confusing.
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Mateo Sanchez
The whole system is designed to make things look better than they are IMO. If someone gets so frustrated with job hunting that they take a break, suddenly they're not 'unemployed' anymore according to the statistics. Meanwhile they still can't pay rent! I went through this when my NYS Department of Labor benefits ran out - stopped applying for a few weeks because I was burned out, and technically I wouldn't have counted as unemployed during that time even though my situation hadn't changed at all.
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Aisha Mahmood
•I get the frustration but there's actually a practical reason for the definition. The unemployment rate is supposed to measure current labor market conditions - how many people are competing for available jobs right now. Including everyone who's not working would make it less useful for understanding hiring demand.
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Ethan Moore
When I was having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor agents about my claim status, someone recommended this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helps you actually reach a live person. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Might be worth checking out if anyone needs to talk to someone about their claim classification or status.
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Luca Russo
•interesting, how does that work exactly? do they just keep calling until someone picks up?
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Nia Harris
For what it's worth, economists do track broader measures that include discouraged workers and people who are marginally attached to the labor force. The problem is these don't get reported as prominently. Your brother would likely show up in measures like U-6 which includes people who want work but haven't searched recently.
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