1 Estimates of the natural rate are inherently uncertain, but other labor market measures are also near their pre-crisis levels, including a broader measure of labor market underutilization that includes those who would like to work but have not recently looked for a job and those working part time who want fulltime work.
2 The labor force participation rate, which had declined sharply after the crisis, has now been roughly stable for 3-1/2 years, which represents an improvement  1  For example, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the natural rate of unemployment is currently 4.7 percent.