Total Unemployed Plus Discouraged Workers, as a Percent of the Civilian Labor Force Plus Discouraged Workers for the District of Columbia (U4UNEM4DC)

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  

Release: Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States  

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

Frequency:  Quarterly

U-4 unemployment rate, as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

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.

Where applicable, estimates are 11-month averages that exclude October 2025. Data for October were not collected due to the federal government shutdown. As a result, these estimates are not strictly comparable with averages for other time periods.