Unemployment can be categorized as either natural or cyclical. Natural unemployment refers to unemployment that persists in the long-run due to factors like workers transitioning between jobs. Cyclical unemployment fluctuates with economic cycles in the short-run. The unemployment rate is calculated based on monthly surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While it provides a general measure of joblessness, it does not account for discouraged workers or those claiming unemployment for other reasons. Most spells of unemployment are short, but long-term unemployment accounts for most of the total at any given time. There are several reasons why some level of unemployment persists, including the natural friction of workers searching for the right job match, and structural issues like minimum wages