Unemployment/Addendum
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Definitions of unemployment
Europe
An unemployed person is defined by Eurostat, according to the guidelines of the International Labour Organization, as:
- someone aged 15 to 74 (in Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway: 16 to 74 years);
- without work during the reference week;
- available to start work within the next two weeks (or has already found a job to start within the next three months);
- actively having sought employment at some time during the last four weeks.
The unemployment rate is the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labour force.
The United States
The United States Department of Labor publishes six "Measures of Labor Underutilization[1]" defined as:
- U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force;
- U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force;
- U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate);
- U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers;
- U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers;
- U-6 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.