A Miserable Job Market Leads Many To Stop Looking

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/16/137219412/a-miserable-job-market-leads-many-to-stop-looking

The official unemployment rate, the headline number that comes out every month, was 9.1 percent in May. It measures how many people are out of work and looking for a job.

Then there's the U-6, which is technically the broadest measure of unemployment. It includes people who are underemployed — meaning they want more work — and people who have stopped looking; perhaps they've decided to go back to school or they've just given up their quest for work. That rate is 15.8 percent.