The Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) said its broad U.S. labor-market measure improved for a second month in September, while the rate for Black workers rose to 30.1%, the highest since July 2021.
LISEP’s True Rate of Unemployment fell 0.3 percentage points to 24.0%, though it remained above March’s 23.6%. The institute’s “functional unemployment” measure extends beyond people with no job: it also captures involuntary part-time work and annual earnings below $26,000, measured in 2025 dollars.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a September unemployment rate of 4.2% under its narrower definition. The two measures cover different groups.
LISEP’s inflation-adjusted True Weekly Earnings measure rose 0.6% from Q2 to Q3, reaching $1,041 from $1,035. The institute said the figure was not meaningfully different from a year earlier. Its calculation extends to part-time workers and unemployed job seekers, while the BLS weekly earnings series covers full-time wage and salary workers. LISEP said differences in part-time pay trends help explain why the measures can diverge.
The BLS put median weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers at $1,232 in Q3, up 1.5% from a year earlier. Consumer prices rose 3.5% over the same period. LISEP’s earnings figures also varied by percentile: earnings at the 25th percentile rose 1.3% from Q2 to $643, while those at the 75th percentile fell 0.5% to $1,735.
For Black workers, LISEP’s weekly earnings measure was $866, down 0.6% from Q2 but up 0.5% year over year. The BLS’s conventional unemployment rate for Black workers rose to 7% in September from 6% in August. LISEP’s rate fell to 25.5% for Hispanic workers and 23.1% for White workers; it declined to 28.8% for women and rose to 19.8% for men.
LISEP Chair Gene Ludwig said, “We need to see more than a quarter or two of improvement.” The BLS is scheduled to publish its October Employment Situation report Nov. 6 at 8:30 a.m. ET.
