Crashes and the rules they brought · 1929–1950s
1940
A monthly count of the unemployed
A monthly household survey starts measuring US unemployment.
Starting in 1940, a monthly survey of households asked who was working and who was looking for work. It became the source of the official US unemployment rate.
💡 Why it made sense then
During the Depression, estimates of joblessness varied wildly, and policy needed a reliable figure.
Ideas it gave us
- 🌍 Unemployment rate
The unemployment rate is the share of people in the labour force who don't have a job but are looking for one. People not looking aren't counted.
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