Research & Data
Georgia’s broadest measure of labor underutilization, known as U-6, averaged 7.1% over the period from October 2025 through September 2026, a full percentage point below the 8.1% total for all states, according to updated state estimates the Bureau of Labor Statistics posted Friday, Oct. 23.
The table covers six “alternative measures of labor underutilization,” labeled U-1 through U-6, for every state and the District of Columbia. U-3 is the familiar definition of unemployment: total unemployed as a percent of the civilian labor force. U-6 is much wider. It counts the total unemployed plus all marginally attached workers, people outside the labor force who are only loosely connected to the job search, plus everyone employed part time for economic reasons.
An 11-month average, not a monthly reading
The new figures come with an unusual caveat. BLS normally builds these state measures from four-quarter averages of Current Population Survey data, which the agency says increases the reliability of the estimates and eliminates seasonality. This time, the averages span 11 months, because October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown. BLS says that as a result the estimates “are not strictly comparable with averages for other time periods.”
Because the figures are averages over a year that ended in September, they describe the past year rather than the labor market today. BLS notes the state measures may not fully reflect current conditions. The U-3 rates in the table are derived directly from the survey, so they can differ from the official monthly state unemployment rates.
How Georgia compares
Across the six measures, Georgia ran below the all-states total:
U-1, people unemployed 15 weeks or longer: 1.3% in Georgia versus 1.8% for all states.
U-2, job losers and people who completed temporary jobs: 1.7% versus 2.0%.
U-3, total unemployed: 3.5% versus 4.3%.
U-4, which adds discouraged workers: 3.7% versus 4.6%.
U-5, which adds all other marginally attached workers: 4.4% versus 5.3%.
U-6, which adds people working part time for economic reasons: 7.1% versus 8.1%.
The gap between Georgia’s U-6 and U-3 was 3.6 points, close to the 3.8-point gap for all states. In both, most of that difference comes from involuntary part-time work, the step from U-5 to U-6, which added 2.7 points in Georgia and 2.8 points across all states.
These are statewide figures. The table does not break out metro areas such as Atlanta, so they should not be read as Atlanta measures.
Regionally, Georgia’s broad measure was higher than in most of its neighbors. Alabama’s U-6 averaged 5.8%, North Carolina’s 5.9%, Tennessee’s 6.4% and South Carolina’s 6.9%. Florida, at 8.4%, was the exception among nearby states.
The highest and lowest states
California had the highest U-6 of any state at 10.3%, with a U-3 of 5.1%. Washington (9.6%), Michigan (9.5%) and Nevada (9.2%) followed. The District of Columbia, which BLS includes in the table, came in at 9.4%.
At the other end, South Dakota’s U-6 averaged 4.9%, the lowest, followed by North Dakota at 5.2% and Nebraska and New Hampshire at 5.5% each. North Dakota also had the lowest U-3, at 2.4%.
Why the broader measures matter
For workers, U-6 captures slack that the headline unemployment rate leaves out: people working part time for economic reasons and people on the margins of the job search. A state can post a low unemployment rate while still having a meaningful number of workers who want more hours.
The comparisons come with limits. Survey-based state estimates are subject to sampling error, and the missing October 2025 month means these averages should not be compared directly with earlier four-quarter periods to judge whether underemployment rose or fell.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States,” October 23, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm
Featured photo: A newly opened Dollar General store with “Now Hiring” and “Now Open” signs on Pine Grove Road in Lowndes County, Georgia, June 13, 2026. Representative image; not connected to the BLS estimates. Photo: Mjrmtg, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Cropped from the original.
