Editing Unemployment (section)

==Measurement==
{{Redirect|Unemployment rate|a list of countries|List of countries by unemployment rate}}
There are also different ways national statistical agencies measure unemployment. The differences may limit the validity of international comparisons of unemployment data.<ref>[http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/06/art1full.pdf "International Unemployment Rates: How Comparable are They?"] by Constance Sorrentino, Monthly Labor Review, June 2000, pp. 3–20.</ref> To some degree, the differences remain despite national statistical agencies increasingly adopting the definition of unemployment of the International Labour Organization.<ref name="ilo.org">International Labour Organization Bureau of Statistics [http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---integration/---stat/documents/publication/wcms_088394.pdf Measurement of employment, unemployment and underemployment&nbsp;– Current international standards and issues in their application]. Retrieved August 2010 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924111726/http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---integration/---stat/documents/publication/wcms_088394.pdf |date=24 September 2011 }}</ref> To facilitate international comparisons, some organizations, such as the [[OECD#Statistics|OECD]], [[Eurostat]], and [[Division of international labor comparisons|International Labor Comparisons Program]], adjust data on unemployment for comparability across countries.

Though many people care about the number of unemployed individuals, economists typically focus on the unemployment rate, which corrects for the normal increase in the number of people employed caused by increases in population and increases in the labour force relative to the population. The unemployment rate is expressed as a [[percentage]] and calculated as follows:

:<math>\text{Unemployment rate}=\frac{\text{Unemployed workers}}{\text{Total labor force}} \times 100</math>

As defined by the [[International Labour Organization]], "unemployed workers" are those who are currently not working but are willing and able to work for pay, currently available to work, and have actively searched for work.<ref>International Labour Organization, Bureau of Statistics,[http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/stat/download/res/ecacpop.pdf The Thirteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians], received 21 July 2007</ref>
Individuals who are actively seeking job placement must make the effort to be in contact with an employer, have job interviews, contact job placement agencies, send out resumes, submit applications, respond to advertisements, or some other means of active job searching within the prior four weeks. Simply looking at advertisements and not responding will not count as actively seeking job placement. Since not all unemployment may be "open" and counted by government agencies, official statistics on unemployment may not be accurate.<ref name="sfgate.com">{{cite news |first=Sam |last=Zuckerman |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/17/BU239666.DTL |title=Official unemployment numbers omit discouraged seekers, part-time workers |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=17 November 2002 |access-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629055550/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2002%2F11%2F17%2FBU239666.DTL |archive-date=29 June 2011  }}</ref> In the United States, for example, the unemployment rate does not take into consideration part-time workers, or those individuals who are not actively looking for employment, due to attending college or having tried to find a job and given up.<ref name="sfgate.com">{{cite news |first=Sam |last=Zuckerman |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/17/BU239666.DTL |title=Official unemployment numbers omit discouraged seekers, part-time workers |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=17 November 2002 |access-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629055550/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2002%2F11%2F17%2FBU239666.DTL |archive-date=29 June 2011  }}</ref><ref>Coy, P. (11 September 2012). U.S. jobless rate drops for the worst of all reasons. Businessweek.Com, 5.</ref>

According to the OECD, Eurostat, and the US [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]] the unemployment rate is the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the labour force.

"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."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Glossary:Unemployment|title=Glossary:Unemployment|publisher=Eurostat}}</ref>

The labour force, or workforce, includes both employed (employees and self-employed) and unemployed people but not the economically inactive, such as pre-school children, school children, students and pensioners.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Glossary:Labour_force|title=Glossary:Labour force|publisher=Eurostat}}</ref>

The unemployment rate of an individual country is usually calculated and reported on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis by the National Agency of Statistics. Organisations like the OECD report statistics for all of its member states.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.oecd.org/unemp/unemployment-rate.htm|title=Unemployment rate|publisher= Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)}}</ref>

Certain countries provide unemployment compensation for a certain period of time for unemployed citizens who are registered as unemployed at the government [[employment agency]]. Furthermore, pension receivables or claims could depend on the registration at the government employment agency.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=862&langId=en|title=Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion|publisher= European Commission}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usa.gov/unemployment|title=Unemployment Help|publisher=United States government website}}</ref>

In many countries like in [[Germany]], the unemployment rate is based on the number of people who are registered as unemployed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Arbeit/Arbeitsmarkt/Glossar/arbeitslosenquote.html|title=Arbeitslosenquote|publisher=Statistisches Bundesamt}}</ref> Other countries like the United States use a labour force survey to calculate the unemployment rate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bls.gov/cps/|title=Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey|publisher=Bureau of Labor Statistics}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Glossary:Labour_force_survey_(LFS)|title=Glossary:Labour force survey (LFS)|publisher=Eurostat}}</ref>

The ILO describes four different methods to calculate the unemployment rate:<ref>International Labour Organization, LABORSTA,[http://laborsta.ilo.org/applv8/data/c3e.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070707132204/http://laborsta.ilo.org/applv8/data/c3e.html|date=7 July 2007}}. Retrieved 22 July 2007.</ref>
* ''Labour Force Sample Surveys'' are the most preferred method of unemployment rate calculation since they give the most comprehensive results and enables calculation of unemployment by different group categories such as race and gender. This method is the most internationally comparable.
* ''Official Estimates'' are determined by a combination of information from one or more of the other three methods. The use of this method has been declining in favor of labour surveys.
* ''Social Insurance Statistics'', such as unemployment benefits, are computed based on the number of persons insured representing the total labour force and the number of persons who are insured that are collecting benefits. This method has been heavily criticized because of the expiration of benefits before the person finds work.
* ''Employment Office Statistics'' are the least effective since they include only a monthly tally of unemployed persons who enter employment offices. This method also includes those who are not unemployed by the ILO definition.

The primary measure of unemployment, U3, allows for comparisons between countries. Unemployment differs from country to country and across different time periods. For example, in the 1990s and 2000s, the United States had lower unemployment levels than many countries in the [[European Union]],<ref>Schmitt, John; Rho, Hye Jin; Fremstad, Shawn. [http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/US-EU-UR-2009-05.pdf U.S. Unemployment Now As High as Europe.] Center for Economic and Policy Research. May 2009.</ref> which had significant internal variation, with countries like the United Kingdom and [[Denmark]] outperforming [[Italy]] and [[France]]. However, large economic events like the Great Depression can lead to similar unemployment rates across the globe.

In 2013, the ILO adopted a resolution to introduce new indicators to measure the unemployment rate.<ref>{{cite web |title=Resolution I Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization |publisher=ILO |url=https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---stat/documents/normativeinstrument/wcms_230304.pdf}}</ref>
*LU1: Unemployment rate: [persons in unemployment / labour force] × 100
*LU2: Combined rate of time-related underemployment and unemployment: [(persons in time-related underemployment + persons in unemployment) / labour force]
x 100
*LU3: Combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force: [(persons in unemployment + potential labour force) / (extended labour force)] × 100
*LU4: Composite measure of labour underutilization: [(persons in time-related underemployment + persons in unemployment + potential

labour force) / (extended labour force)] × 100

===European Union (Eurostat)===
{{Further|List of sovereign states in Europe by unemployment rate|List of European regions by unemployment rate}}
[[File:Unemployment Rate in Europe (2020).svg|thumb|Unemployment in Europe (2021) according to Worldbank]]
[[File:Unemployment_rates_EU-28,_EA-19,_US_and_Japan,_seasonally_adjusted,_January_2000_-_October_2019.png|thumb|Unemployment rates from 2000 to 2019 for United States, Japan and [[European Union]]]]

[[Eurostat]], the statistical office of the [[European Union]], defines unemployed as those persons between age 15 and 74 who are not working, have looked for work in the last four weeks, and are ready to start work within two weeks; this definition conforms to ILO standards. Both the actual count and the unemployment rate are reported. Statistical data are available by member state for the European Union as a whole (EU28) as well as for the [[eurozone]] (EA19). Eurostat also includes a long-term unemployment rate, which is defined as part of the unemployed who have been unemployed for more than one year.<ref>Marco Giugni, ed. ''The Contentious Politics of Unemployment in Europe: Welfare States and Political Opportunities''(Palgrave Macmillan; 2011) covers Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland.</ref>

The main source used is the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). It collects data on all member states each quarter. For monthly calculations, national surveys or national registers from employment offices are used in conjunction with quarterly EU-LFS data. The exact calculation for individual countries, resulting in harmonized monthly data, depends on the availability of the data.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/EN/une_esms.htm|title=European Commission, Eurostat|access-date=5 November 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126055630/http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/en/une_esms.htm|archive-date=26 November 2009}}</ref>

===United States Bureau of Labor statistics===
{{See also|Unemployment in the United States|JOLTS report}}

[[File:USA 2008 unemployment by county.svg|thumb|Unemployment rate in the US by county in 2008<ref>{{cite web|url=ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/la/laucnty08.txt|title=Labor force data by county, 2008 annual averages|author=Bureau of Labor Statistics|year=2009}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> {{colbegin|colwidth=8em}}{{legend|#0000ff|1.2–3%}}{{legend|#00dddd|3.1–4%}}{{legend|#00ffaa|4.1–5%}}{{legend|#00ff00|5.1–6%}}{{legend|#77cc00|6.1–7%}}{{legend|#ffff00|7.1–8%}}{{legend|#ffaa00|8.1–9%}}{{legend|#ff0000|9.1–10%}}{{legend|#ff00aa|10.1–11%}}{{legend|#666666|11.1–13%}}{{legend|#000000|13.1–22.9%}}{{colend}}]]

The [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]] measures employment and unemployment (of those over 17 years of age) by using two different labor force surveys<ref>United States, Bureau of Labor Statistics,[http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_faq.htm]. Retrieved 23 July 2007.</ref> conducted by the [[United States Census Bureau]] (within the [[United States Department of Commerce]]) and/or the Bureau of Labor Statistics (within the [[United States Department of Labor]]) that gather employment statistics monthly. The [[Current Population Survey]] (CPS), or "Household Survey", conducts a survey based on a sample of 60,000 households. The survey measures the unemployment rate based on the ILO definition.<ref>U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, [http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_over.htm#overview Current Population Survey overview]. Retrieved 25 May 2007.</ref>

The Current Employment Statistics survey (CES), or "Payroll Survey", conducts a survey based on a sample of 160,000 businesses and government agencies, which represent 400,000 individual employers.<ref name=c>U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "[http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_02012008.pdf The Employment Situation: January 2008]," January 2008</ref> Since the survey measures only civilian nonagricultural employment, it does not calculate an unemployment rate, and it differs from the ILO unemployment rate definition. Both sources have different classification criteria and usually produce differing results. Additional data are also available from the government, such as the unemployment insurance weekly claims report available from the Office of Workforce Security, within the U.S. Department of Labor's [[Employment and Training Administration]].<ref>U.S. Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration, Office of Workforce Security, [http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims_arch.asp UI Weekly Claims]</ref> The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides up-to-date numbers via a PDF linked here.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_03052010.pdf |title=The Employment Situation: February 2010 |access-date=16 December 2010}}</ref> The BLS also provides a readable concise current Employment Situation Summary, updated monthly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm |title=Employment Situation Summary |publisher=Bureau of Labor Statistics |date=8 July 2011 |access-date=27 July 2011}}</ref>
[[File:US Unemployment measures.svg|thumb|U1–U6 since 1950, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics]]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also calculates six alternate measures of unemployment, U1 to U6, which measure different aspects of unemployment:<ref>U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table A-15. Alternative measures of labour underutilization Retrieved 5 August 2010.</ref>
* U1:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab15.htm |title=Labor Force Statistics (CPS), Alternative Measures U-1 through U-6 |publisher=Bureau of Labor Statistics |date=6 January 2012 |access-date=6 January 2012}}</ref> Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.
* U2: Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.
* U3: Official unemployment rate, per the ILO definition, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively looked for [[wage labor|work]] within the past four weeks.<ref name=a>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/stat/download/res/ecacpop.pdf|author=International Labor Organization |title=Resolution concerning statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment, and underemployment, adopted by the Thirteenth International Conference of Labor Statisticians; see page 4 |date=October 1982 |access-date=26 November 2007 }}</ref>
* U4: U3 + "[[discouraged workers]]", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
* U5: U4 + other "marginally attached workers," or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work but have not looked for work recently.
* U6: U5 + Part-time workers who want to work full-time, but cannot for economic reasons ([[underemployment]]).
''Note: "Marginally attached workers" are added to the total labour force for unemployment rate calculation for U4, U5, and U6.'' The [[Current Population Survey#1994 revisions|BLS revised the CPS in 1994]] and among the changes the measure representing the official unemployment rate was renamed U3 instead of U5.<ref>{{cite web |first1=John E. |last1=Bregger |first2=Steven E. |last2=Haugen |year=1995 |title=BLS introduces new range of alternative unemployment measures |work=Monthly Labor Review, October: 19–29 |url=http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1995/10/art3full.pdf |publisher=U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics |access-date=6 March 2009 }}</ref> In 2013, Representative [[Duncan D. Hunter|Hunter]] proposed that the Bureau of Labor Statistics use the U5 rate instead of the current U3 rate.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rep. Hunter Seeks to Change Jobless Reporting Method |author=Honathan Horn |url=http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/24/tp-rep-hunter-seeks-to-change-jobless-reporting/ |newspaper=San Diego Union Tribune |date=24 April 2013 |access-date=23 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203020412/http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/24/tp-rep-hunter-seeks-to-change-jobless-reporting/ |archive-date=3 December 2013  }}<br />{{cite news |title=GOP lawmaker calls for change to how government measures unemployment |author=Molly K. Hooper |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/110906-gop-lawmaker-calls-for-change-to-how-government-measures-unemployment/ |newspaper=The Hill |date=8 April 2012 |access-date=23 June 2013 |archive-date=24 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624013147/http://thehill.com/homenews/house/220457-gop-lawmaker-calls-for-change-to-how-government-measures-unemployment- |url-status=live }}<br />{{cite news |title=The Unemployment Rate Is a Farce That Needs Fixing: Rep. Duncan Hunter |author=Matt Nesto |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/unemployment-rate-farce-needs-fixing-rep-duncan-hunter-113437674.html |newspaper=Yahoo! Finance |date=2 August 2012 |access-date=23 June 2013 }}</ref>

Statistics for the US economy as a whole hide variations among groups. For example, in January 2008, the US unemployment rates were 4.4% for adult men, 4.2% for adult women, 4.4% for Caucasians, 6.3% for Hispanics or Latinos (all races), 9.2% for African Americans, 3.2% for Asian Americans, and 18.0% for teenagers.<ref name=c/> Also, the US unemployment rate would be at least 2% higher if prisoners and jail inmates were counted.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/00-05_REP_PunishingDecade_AC.pdf |title=The Punishing Decade: Prison and Jail Estimates at the Millennium |publisher=Justice Policy Institute |date=May 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=How Unregulated Is the U.S. Labor Market? The Penal System as a Labor Market Institution |first1=Bruce |last1=Western |first2=Katherine |last2=Beckett |journal=[[American Journal of Sociology]] |volume=104 |issue=4 |year=1999 |pages=1030–1060 |doi=10.1086/210135 |s2cid=27785866 }}</ref>

The unemployment rate is included in a number of major economic [[index (economics)|indices]] including the US [[The Conference Board|Conference Board]]'s [[Index of Leading Indicators]] a [[macroeconomics|macroeconomic]] measure of the state of the economy.

{{multiple image
| footer = 
| align = none
| image1 = US Unemployment 1800-1890.gif
| width1 = {{#expr: (200 * 628 / 398) round 0}}
| alt1 = US Unemployment 1800–1890
| caption1 = Estimated US unemployment rate from 1800 to 1890. All data are estimates based on data compiled by Lebergott.<ref name="Lebergott1964">{{cite book |first=Stanley |last=Lebergott |year=1964 |title=Manpower in Economic Growth: The American Record since 1800 |url=https://archive.org/details/manpowerineconom0000lebe |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/manpowerineconom0000lebe/page/164 164]–190 |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill 
}}</ref> See limitations section below on how to interpret unemployment statistics in self-employed, agricultural economies. See image information for complete data.
| image2 = US annual unemployment rate.svg
| width2 = {{#expr: (200 * 796 / 416) round 0}}
| alt2 = US Unemployment since 1890
| caption2 = Estimated US unemployment rate since 1890; 1890–1930 data are from [[Christina Romer]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Christina |last=Romer |year=1986 |title=Spurious Volatility in Historical Unemployment Data |journal=[[Journal of Political Economy]] |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=1–37 |jstor=1831958 |doi=10.1086/261361|s2cid=15302777 }}</ref> 1930–1940 data is from Coen.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Robert M. |last=Coen |year=1973 |title=Labor Force and Unemployment in the 1920s and 1930s: A Re-Examination Based on Postwar Experience |journal=[[Review of Economics and Statistics]] |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=46–55 |jstor=1927993 |doi=10.2307/1927993}}</ref> 1940–2011 data is from [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Bureau of Labor Statistics |url=ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat1.txt |title=Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population, 1940 to date |access-date=6 March 2009}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bls.gov/cps/eetech_methods.pdf |title=Historical Comparability |year=2006 |work=Employment and Earnings. Household Data Explanatory Notes, February 2006 }}</ref> See image info for complete data.
| direction = 
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}}

===Alternatives===
====Limitations of definition====
Some critics believe that current methods of measuring unemployment are inaccurate in terms of the impact of unemployment on people as these methods do not take into account the 1.5% of the available working population incarcerated in US prisons (who may or may not be working while they are incarcerated); those who have lost their jobs and have become [[discouraged worker|discouraged]] over time from actively looking for work; those who are [[self-employed]] or wish to become self-employed, such as tradesmen or building contractors or information technology consultants; those who have retired before the official retirement age but would still like to work (involuntary early retirees); those on [[disability]] pensions who do not possess full health but still wish to work in occupations suitable for their medical conditions; or those who work for payment for as little as one hour per week but would like to work full time.<ref name="Krueger 1999">{{cite journal|last=Krueger|first=Alan B.|author2=Lawrence F. Katz|title=New Trend in Unemployment?: The High-Pressure U.S. Labor Market of the 1990s|journal=Brookings Review|year=1999|url=http://www.brookings.edu/articles/1999/fall_unemployment_katz.aspx|access-date=18 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511084352/http://www.brookings.edu/articles/1999/fall_unemployment_katz.aspx|archive-date=11 May 2011}}</ref>

The last people are "involuntary part-time" workers, those who are underemployed, such as a computer programmer who is working in a retail store until he can find a permanent job, involuntary stay-at-home mothers who would prefer to work, and graduate and professional school students who are unable to find worthwhile jobs after they graduated with their bachelor's degrees.

[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P109961, Berlin, Arbeitsamt Sonnenallee, Arbeitslose.jpg|thumb|A government unemployment office with job listings, [[West Berlin]], [[West Germany]], 1982]]
Internationally, some nations' unemployment rates are sometimes muted or appear less severe because of the number of self-employed individuals working in agriculture.<ref name="Lebergott1964"/> Small independent farmers are often considered self-employed and so cannot be unemployed. That can impact non-industrialized economies, such as the United States and Europe in the early 19th century, since overall unemployment was approximately 3% because so many individuals were self-employed, independent farmers; however, non-agricultural unemployment was as high as 80%.<ref name="Lebergott1964"/>

Many economies industrialize and so experience increasing numbers of non-agricultural workers. For example, the United States' non-agricultural labour force increased from 20% in 1800 to 50% in 1850 and  97% in 2000.<ref name="Lebergott1964"/> The shift away from self-employment increases the percentage of the population that is included in unemployment rates. When unemployment rates between countries or time periods are compared, it is best to consider differences in their levels of industrialization and self-employment.

Additionally, the measures of employment and unemployment may be "too high". In some countries, the availability of [[unemployment benefits]] can inflate statistics by giving an incentive to register as unemployed. People who do not seek work may choose to declare themselves unemployed to get benefits; people with undeclared paid occupations may try to get unemployment benefits in addition to the money that they earn from their work.<ref name="Reporting benefit fraud.">{{cite web|url=http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/BenefitFraud/DG_10014876 |title=Reporting benefit fraud |publisher=Directgov |access-date=27 July 2011}}</ref>

However, in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, and the European Union, unemployment is measured using a sample survey (akin to a [[Gallup Organization|Gallup]] poll).<ref name="ilo.org"/> According to the BLS, a number of Eastern European nations have instituted labour force surveys as well. The sample survey has its own problems because the total number of workers in the economy is calculated based on a sample, rather than a census.

It is possible to be neither employed nor unemployed by ILO definitions by being outside of the "labour force".<ref name="sfgate.com"/> Such people have no job and are not looking for one. Many of them go to school or are retired. Family responsibilities keep others out of the labour force. Still others have a physical or mental disability that prevents them from participating in the labour force. Some people simply elect not to work and prefer to be dependent on others for sustenance.

Typically, employment and the labour force include only work that is done for monetary gain. Hence, a [[homemaker]] is neither part of the labour force nor unemployed. Also, full-time students and prisoners are considered to be neither part of the labour force nor unemployed.<ref name="Krueger 1999"/> The number of prisoners can be important. In 1999, economists Lawrence F. Katz and Alan B. Krueger estimated that increased incarceration lowered measured unemployment in the United States by 0.17% between 1985 and the late 1990s.<ref name="Krueger 1999"/>

In particular, as of 2005, roughly 0.7% of the US population is incarcerated (1.5% of the available working population). Additionally, children, the elderly, and some individuals with disabilities are typically not counted as part of the labour force and so are not included in the unemployment statistics. However, some elderly and many disabled individuals are active in the labour market.

In the early stages of an [[boom and bust|economic boom]], unemployment often rises.<ref name="Keynes 2007"/> That is because people join the labour market (give up studying, start a job hunt, etc.) as a result of the improving job market, but until they have actually found a position, they are counted as unemployed. Similarly, during a [[recession]], the increase in the unemployment rate is moderated by people leaving the labour force or being otherwise discounted from the labour force, such as with the self-employed.

For the fourth quarter of 2004, according to [[OECD]] ([http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/36/30/35024561.pdf Employment Outlook 2005] {{ISBN|92-64-01045-9}}), normalized unemployment for men aged 25 to 54 was 4.6% in the US and 7.4% in France. At the same time and for the same population, the employment rate (number of workers divided by population) was 86.3% in the US and 86.7% in France. That example shows that the unemployment rate was 60% higher in France than in the US, but more people in that demographic were working in France than in the US, which is counterintuitive if it is expected that the unemployment rate reflects the health of the labour market.<ref>{{cite web|last=Baker|first=Dean|url=http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=01&year=2007&base_name=wall_street_journal_gets_germa&162#comment-1679545|title=Wall Street Journal Gets German Unemployment Wrong|work=The American Prospect|access-date=1 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033323/http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=01&year=2007&base_name=wall_street_journal_gets_germa&162#comment-1679545|archive-date=30 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Raymond Torres, OECD head of Employment Analysis, [http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-823448,36-917229@51-628862,0.html Avec 1,2 % de baisse fin avril, le taux de chômage continue sa décrue]{{Dead link|date=January 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ''Le Monde'', 30 mai 2007 : ''unemployment measure is less and less meaningful to measure labour market efficiency.''</ref>

Those deficiencies make many [[labour economics|labour market]] economists prefer to look at a range of economic statistics such as labour market participation rate, the percentage of people between 15 and 64 who are currently employed or searching for employment, the total number of full-time jobs in an economy, the number of people seeking work as a raw number and not a percentage, and the total number of person-hours worked in a month compared to the total number of person-hours people would like to work. In particular, the [[National Bureau of Economic Research]] does not use the unemployment rate but prefers various employment rates to date recessions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wwwdev.nber.org/dec2008.html |title=Determination of the December 2007 Peak in Economic Activity |publisher=The National Bureau of Economic Research |date=28 November 2008 |access-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20130905171428/http%3A//wwwdev.nber.org/dec2008.html |archive-date=5 September 2013  }}</ref> Moreover, some articles in prestigious magazines such as The Economist have argued that alternative ways to measure economic misery are needed.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Economists need new indicators of economic misery |url=https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/11/14/economists-need-new-indicators-of-economic-misery |access-date=2024-11-20 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

====Labor force participation rate====
[[File:US Labor Force Participation Rate by gender.png|thumb|upright=1.5|US labor force participation rate from 1948 to 2021, by gender
{{legend|#4A90E2|Male participation}}
{{legend|#000000|Total labor force participation}}
{{legend|#AA4643|Female participation}}]]
[[File:Work Force Participation Rate by Age Group.webp|thumb|300px|{{center|US Work Force Participation Rate by Age Group}}
{{legend-line|#B8BEBA solid 3px|55+}}
{{legend-line|#61D836 solid 3px|25-54}}
{{legend-line|#FFD932 solid 3px|20-24}}
{{legend-line|#EE220C solid 3px|16-19}}
]]
The labor force participation rate is the ratio between the [[labor force]] and the overall size of their [[cohort (statistics)|cohort]] (national population of the same age range). In the West, during the latter half of the 20th century, the labor force participation rate increased significantly because of an increase in the number of women entering the workplace.

In the United States, there have been four significant stages of women's participation in the labour force: increases in the 20th century and decreases in the 21st century. Male labor force participation decreased from 1953 to 2013. Since October 2013, men have been increasingly joining the labour force.

From the late 19th century to the 1920s, very few women worked outside the home. They were young single women who typically withdrew from the labor force at marriage unless family needed two incomes. Such women worked primarily in the [[textile manufacturing]] industry or as [[domestic worker]]s. That profession empowered women and allowed them to earn a living wage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Women Workers in the British Industrial Revolution – EH.net |url=https://eh.net/encyclopedia/women-workers-in-the-british-industrial-revolution/ |access-date=2024-06-12 |language=en-US}}</ref> At times, they were a financial help to their families.

Between 1930 and 1950, female labor force participation increased primarily because of the increased demand for office workers, women's participation in the high school movement, and [[electrification]], which reduced the time that was spent on household chores. From the 1950s to the early 1970s, most women were secondary earners working mainly as secretaries, teachers, nurses, and librarians ([[pink-collar]] jobs).

From the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, there was a period of revolution of women in the labor force brought on by various factors, many of which arose from the [[second-wave feminism]] movement. Women more accurately planned for their future in the work force by investing in more applicable majors in college that prepared them to enter and compete in the labor market. In the United States, the female labor force participation rate rose from approximately 33% in 1948 to a peak of 60.3% in 2000. As of April 2015, the female labor force participation is at 56.6%, the male labor force participation rate is at 69.4%, and the total is 62.8%.<ref name="research.stlouisfed.org">[https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/LNS11300002 Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: Women] Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis</ref>

A common theory in modern economics claims that the rise of women participating in the US labor force in the 1950s to the 1990s was caused by the introduction of a new contraceptive technology, [[combined oral contraceptive pill|birth control pills]], as well as the adjustment of [[age of majority]] laws. The use of birth control gave women the flexibility of opting to invest and to advance their career while they maintained a relationship. By having control over the timing of their fertility, they were not running a risk of thwarting their career choices. However, only 40% of the population actually used the birth control pill.

That implies that other factors may have contributed to women choosing to invest in advancing their careers. One factor may be that an increasing number of men delayed the age of marriage, which allowed women to marry later in life without them worrying about the quality of older men. Other factors include the changing nature of work, with machines replacing physical labor, thus eliminating many traditional male occupations, and the rise of the service sector in which many jobs are gender neutral.

Another factor that may have contributed to the trend was the [[Equal Pay Act of 1963]], which aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex. Such legislation diminished sexual discrimination and encouraged more women to enter the labor market by receiving fair remuneration to help raising families and children.

At the turn of the 21st century, the labor force participation began to reverse its long period of increase. Reasons for the change include a rising share of older workers, an increase in school enrollment rates among young workers, and a decrease in female labor force participation.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Van Zandweghe|first=Willem|title=Interpreting the Recent Decline in Labor Force Participation|journal=KC Fed Economic Review, First Quarter, 2012|pages=5–34|url=http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/econrev/pdf/12q1VanZandweghe.pdf|access-date=22 April 2013|archive-date=15 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115193338/http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/econrev/pdf/12q1VanZandweghe.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The labor force participation rate can decrease when the rate of growth of the population outweighs that of the employed and the unemployed together. The labor force participation rate is a key component in long-term economic growth, almost as important as [[productivity]].

A historic shift began around the end of the [[Great Recession]] as women began leaving the labor force in the United States and other developed countries. The female labor force participation rate in the United States has steadily decreased since 2009, and as of April 2015, the female labor force participation rate has gone back down to 1988 levels of 56.6%.<ref name="research.stlouisfed.org"/>

Participation rates are defined as follows:

{|  style="margin:auto; width:90%;"
| Pop = total population || LF = labor force = U + E
|-
| LFpop = labor force population <br /> (generally defined as all men and women aged 15–64) || p = participation rate = LF / LFpop
|-
| E = number employed || e = rate of employment = E / LFpop
|-
| U = number of unemployed || u = rate of unemployment = U / LF
|}

The labor force participation rate explains how an increase in the unemployment rate can occur simultaneously with an increase in employment. If a large number of new workers enter the labor force but only a small fraction become employed, then the increase in the number of unemployed workers can outpace the growth in employment.<ref>Peter Barth and Dennis Heffley [https://web.archive.org/web/20070621060113/http://www.cteconomy.uconn.edu/TCE_Individual_Articles/Spring_2004/LocalLaborForceParticipationRates.pdf "Taking Apart Taking Part: Local Labor Force Participation Rates"] University of Connecticut, 2004.</ref>

====Unemployment-to-population ratio====
The unemployment-to-population ratio calculates the share of unemployed for the whole population. This is in contrast to the unemployment rate, which calculates the percentage of unemployed persons in relation to the ''active'' population. Particularly, many young people between 15 and 24 are studying full-time and so are neither working nor looking for a job. That means that they are not part of the labor force, which is used as the [[denominator]] when the unemployment rate is calculated.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_statistics#Youth_unemployment_trends |title=Unemployment statistics - Statistics Explained |publisher=Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu |access-date=1 March 2014}}</ref>

The [[youth unemployment]] ratios in the European Union range from 5.2 (Austria) to 10.6 percent (Spain).<ref name=unemployment2024>{{cite web|title=Economically Active Population Survey. Fourth Quarter 2024.|url=https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176918&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735976595|website=INE Instituto Nacional de Estadística |access-date=29 January 2025}}</ref> They are considerably lower than the standard youth unemployment rates, ranging from 7.9 (Germany) to 57.9 percent (Greece).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php?title=File:Youth_unemployment,_2012Q4_%28%25%29.png&filetimestamp=20130418091546# |title=File:Youth unemployment, 2012Q4 (%).png - Statistics Explained |publisher=Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu |access-date=1 March 2014}}</ref>