The unemployment rate is somewhat useful in aggregate but has a limitation in that it doesn't account for people who have given up seeking employment. Essentially it is a measure of the percentage of the workforce that has a job.

This stat makes a lot of sense for the most part. A stay-at-home parent isn't really unable to find work so shouldn't be counted in unemployment stats (for example).

But sometimes you miss the folk that have become disheartened. I know a few of those folk right now in the tech industry who want to look but just aren't. Our stats miss "mood" in a sense (hard to quantify of course).

But right now the mood is bad.