The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts those who have once held a job as unemployed. That means the unemployment rate reported by BLS does not include the some 82,000 students who graduate each year, many of which are still out of work. 

We know that the number of employees is shrinking, but we don’t know how many college graduates who can’t find jobs are flying under the unemployment radar.

The New York Times economics blog reports:

Last month, the number of college graduates who were working fell by 282,000, while only 2,000 more college graduates were classified as unemployed. Why this gap? Laid off college workers, who are unaccustomed to unemployment, may feel a stigma if they report themselves as actively looking for work, so they are uncounted among the unemployed. Additionally, many nonworking college graduates may retire or return to school in response to weak job prospects.

This indicates that the numbers reported in unemployment rates would be higher if they counted everyone who can’t find work.

The U.S. unemployment rate has now risen one full percentage point since October of last year.