The article also hits one of my pet peeves about BLS stats: referring to "the unemployment rate" without qualification. U3 and U6 unemployment are distinctly d

The article also hits one of my pet peeves about BLS stats: referring to "the unemployment rate" without qualification. U3 and U6 unemployment are distinctly different things - the main difference is that the average person's idea of "unemployed" includes a lot of able-bodied willing-to-work individuals who are counted in U6 and ignored by U3. Unfortunately, when someone talks about "the unemployment rate," they're almost always talking about the U3 measure of unemployment, because that's the one that presidents, senators, and congresscritters trumpet (on account of their incentive to understate unemployment).