How Credible is the U-3 Unemployment Rate?

Around the world, central bankers closely monitor monthly unemployment statistics. A nation's assessment of the optimal size of its labor force and employment levels should be rational. In the United States, the ages of labor participants measured by the statistics range from 16 year olds through sempiternal, with those working as little as one hour per week included in the calculations.This study looks at the history of the curator of the employment data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and its important role in monetary policy. It concludes that BLS should offer a metric that reflects more realistically who is in the work force. At the lower end of the age range, that metric would exclude high school-age children; at the upper end of the range, it would remove those who are required to withdraw the Required Minimum Distribution, which can have a critical impact on employment decisions.This paper collects and researches the employment data for 20- to 70-year-olds and compares the data to some of the popular employment metrics currently disseminated. The paper concludes that a modification of the unemployment metric would provide a more accurate picture than is currently on offer