Economists use a variety of devices to measure the factors that influence the economy's overall performance. Some of the indicators that economists watch are overall price-level changes, levels of output, and the rate of unemployment, measures that are very often taught as part of the conventional curriculum in high school economics. Such measures, however, are often not well understood by teachers and students. In this article, the authors consider the unemployment rate as an example and offer a series of questions teachers can use to stimulate discussion about the unemployment rate, and about the fact that the unemployment rate can increase at the same time as more people are getting jobs. This activity emphasizes the fact that the unemployment rate, like any other economic measure, must be used carefully, as it is not always a clear signal of economic performance.