Today's Planet Money indicator is 4.55 percent. The Federal Reserve said just this afternoon that the American economy is at full employment when the unemployment rate is 4.55 percent.

The Fed updates this estimate every few months. And for years, it's been getting the number wrong.

Today on the show, what is full employment, why is it so hard to pin down, and most importantly, are we there yet?

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.


Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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