Special Reports Chart of the Day

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in May—but does that rate tell the real story?

Read MoreUS jobs data glitter may not be gold

A number of economists look past the "main" unemployment rate to a different figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "U-6," which it defines as "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."

Read MoreWhat millenials don't know about the job market

In other words, the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged—a rate that still remains high.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in April—but does that rate tell the real story?

Read MoreUS jobs data glitter may not be gold

A number of economists look past the "main" unemployment rate to a different figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "U-6," which it defines as "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."

Read MoreWhat millenials don't know about the job market

In other words, the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged—a rate that still remains high.

The earthquake that flattened entire villages in Nepal over the weekend and killed at least 3,600 people is expected to inflict about $5 billion in total economic costs on the small South Asian country.

That's more than 20 percent of Nepal's gross domestic product, putting the 7.8-magnitude earthquake among the most expensive earthquakes in recent history relative to a country's economic size.

It's no secret that the rich generate much of their wealth from relatively low-taxed capital gains. But data from the Internal Revenue Service show that other Americans saw increases in the share of their incomes coming from capital gains in 2013.

Capital gains are net income on sales of assets, like stocks or bonds, so they tend to do well in bull markets. Taxpayers who earned between $100,000 and $200,000 in adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2013 made five percent of their income in capital gains, up from 1.4 percent in 2012.

That's the biggest jump for an income bracket over $20,000 and the only statistically significant increase. Five percent isn't a ton, but with nearly 17,000 filers in the tax bracket, that makes up $685 million in additional income.

The fact remains that the richer a person is, the larger share of their income comes from capital gains. For the 12,319 returns filed by those who made more than $10 million in 2013, and thus qualified for the highest tax bracket, nearly 42 percent of AGI came from capital gains. That's down from 49 percent in 2012, but still made up $142 billion.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in March—but does that rate tell the real story?

Read MoreUS jobs data glitter may not be gold

A number of economists look past the "main" unemployment rate to a different figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "U-6," which it defines as "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."

Read MoreWhat millenials don't know about the job market

In other words, the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged—a rate that still remains high.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in February—but does that rate tell the real story?

Read MoreUS jobs data glitter may not be gold

A number of economists look past the "main" unemployment rate to a different figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "U-6," which it defines as "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."

Read MoreWhat millenials don't know about the job market

In other words, the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged—a rate that still remains high.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in January—but does that rate tell the real story?

Read MoreUS jobs data glitter may not be gold

A number of economists look past the "main" unemployment rate to a different figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "U-6," which it defines as "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."

Read MoreWhat millenials don't know about the job market

In other words, the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged—a rate that still remains high.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in October—but does that rate tell the real story?

Read MoreUS jobs data glitter may not be gold

A number of economists look past the "main" unemployment rate to a different figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "U-6," which it defines as "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."

Read MoreWhat millenials don't know about the job market

In other words, the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged—a rate that still remains high.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was 6.1 percent in August—but does that rate tell the real story?

Read MoreUS jobs data glitter may not be gold

A number of economists look past the "main" unemployment rate to a different figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "U-6," which it defines as "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."

Read MoreWhat millenials don't know about the job market

In other words, the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged—a rate that still remains high.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in July—but does that rate tell the real story?

Read MoreUS jobs data glitter may not be gold

A number of economists look past the "main" unemployment rate to a different figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "U-6," which it defines as "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."

Read MoreWhat millenials don't know about the job market

In other words, the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged—a rate that still remains high.