Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  

Release: Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States  

Units:  Persons, 4-Quarter Moving Average, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Quarterly

The BLS defines discouraged workers as persons who are not in the labor force, want and are available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They are not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the prior 4 weeks, for the specific reason that they believed no jobs were available to them.