Don’t worry, it will be revised next Thursday. Oh, we made a mistake with the calculations.
No, it isn’t a mistake. The rate of unemployment is shown as the number of unemployed people willing and able to work who are actively seeking employment. In a workforce of 1000, where 100 are not working and are seeking to work, the unemployment is 10% (100=10% of 1000) If in the following month 50 of those 100 who were looking for work last month get discouraged and stop looking, then only 50 people are considered to be unemployed (folks who don’t look aren’t counted),so the RATE of unemployment drops to only 5% (50=5% of 1000).
Hammer, meet nail.