1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to employment; expanding the official measure of unemployment.
1.3 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.4 	Section 1. EXPANSION OF MEASUREMENT OF UNEMPLOYED AND 
1.5 	UNDEREMPLOYED MINNESOTANS.
 1.6 	 By July 1, 2010, the commissioner of employment and economic development shall 
1.7 	design and implement a comprehensive measure of unemployment and underemployment 
1.8 	in the state to be used by the Labor Market Information Office within the Department 
1.9 	of Employment and Economic Development to produce estimates of total official 
1.10 	unemployment. The measurement required under this section must include, but is not 
1.11 	limited to, data on workers who are employed on a part-time basis but would prefer and 
1.12 	accept full-time employment if it was available, and those who are currently unemployed 
1.13 	and not actively seeking employment due to impediments to work including the lack of 
1.14 	child care or transportation. The new measurement must also include information on state 
1.15 	and substate unemployment and underemployment and the incidence of unemployment 
1.16 	and underemployment across demographic categories including but not limited to race, 
1.17 	age, and gender.
1.18 	 (b) The comprehensive measure required in paragraph (a) may utilize information 
1.19 	from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey and the 
1.20 	United States Census Bureau American Community Survey as the base for identifying, 
1.21 	evaluating, and utilizing correlations with other relevant data to be used in econometric 
1.22 	modeling of measures of unemployment and underemployment.

1.23 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment.