how is u s unemployment data collected 
the bureau of labor statistics surveys approximately 60 000 households in person or over the phone the responses are later aggregated by race ethnicity age veteran status and gender all of which along with geography add greater detail to the employment picture 15the bottom linein assessing an economy s health the nation s unemployment rate plays a major factor in setting monetary policy and making strategic economic decisions there are various ways to calculate unemployment however the general public is most familiar with the u 3 rate the calculation for this iteration of the unemployment rate is to divide the number of unemployed individuals by the total workforce 