And I've got a masters degree in international economics from a tippy top U.S. program. They are all manipulated to suit politicians' purposes. Fortunately, the figures to get to my "real" unemployment rate are readily available and generally reliable:

[Population of 18-65 year olds employed] / [Total population of 18-65 year olds]

This number is not completely comparable across countries (some countries have a higher rate of females voluntarily abstaining from full-time employment), but it is very good for tracking how an economy is performing at keeping people employed over time and eliminates all of the subjective "currently looking for a job, but not for longer than x weeks," counting 15- or 16-year-olds, etc. bla bla bogus factors.