i am a freelancer and haven’t had any work in a while. i don’t pay unemployment so i don’t get unemployment. how does the feral government know i am unemployed if i don’t tell anyone?
Each comes with its own shortcomings, but the fact of the matter is that unemployment compensation does not factor into the calculations. Those that argue otherwise may as well be arguing that the Earth is flat.
The links I've provided so far are good places to start researching the differences between all the numbers, whether they go by the names of "initial claims," "continuing claims," "U3," "U6," "Ux," etc.
The primary confusion appears to lie (in the years I've been correcting people) in the differences between the way the "unemployment rate" is calculated, and the way the "labor force participation rate" is calculated (and how the latter affects the former). That confusion appears to lead people mistakenly to believe the exact opposite of what I posted in comment #9.
To summarize, unemployment compensation (or lack thereof, for whatever reason), self-employment status, farm or non-farm status, DO NOT FACTOR into the calculation of the unemployment rate.