Unemployment rate

The percentage of the people classified as unemployed as compared to the total labor force.

Unemployment Rate

The percentage of a population's workforce not working but willing to work and actively seeking a job. A high unemployment rate is considered a negative sign both economically and socially. However, the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator: it rises and falls in response to a macroeconomic change rather than in anticipation of one. This may be because employers do not hire employees unless they are confident that they will be able to afford to retain them.

unemployment rate

the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the total LABOUR FORCE. See UNEMPLOYMENT.

unemployment rate

the number of unemployed workers expressed as a percentage of a country's LABOUR FORCE. In the UK the unemployment rate is calculated using two measures of the number of people employed: CLAIMANT COUNT UNEMPLOYMENT, which is based on the number of people registering as unemployed at JOB CENTRES, and INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE (ILO) UNEMPLOYMENT, which is based on the LABOUR FORCE SURVEY in which people interviewed state whether they are employed or unemployed. (See UNEMPLOYMENT for further details.) Unemployment rates can be used to measure changing job opportunities over time and between countries. They also provide a summary measure of the degree of under-employment of FACTORS OF PRODUCTION, that is, the extent to which a country's ACTUAL GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT falls short of POTENTIAL GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT, resulting in a DEFLATIONARY GAP. See ACTIVITY RATE, DISGUISED UNEMPLOYMENT, FULL EMPLOYMENT, VACANCY RATE.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

In Chicago, the unemployment rate is 7.4 percent, according to the state's latest figures.

An about-face: young blacks and Latinos who enlist in the military for skills and training are still getting turned away by employers

The following section is a brief re-examination of the South Australian labour force during the 1990s using the real unemployment rate, which adds an estimate of hidden unemployment to the unemployment rate.

Beyond the unemployment rate: three new measures of labour under utilisation for South Australia

In June 2019, the youth unemployment rate was 14.1% in the EU28 and 15.4% in the euro area, compared with 15.2% and 17.0% respectively in June 2018.

The Unemployment Rate in the Euro Area Continues to Decline

Nassau's all-time low unemployment rate was 2.4 percent in Dec.

Long Island unemployment rate falls again

The unemployment rate among young people (under 30 years of age) made 15.1%.

Over 17% of population of Uzbekistan aged 16-25 years unemployed

Outside Europe, the unemployment rate fell for the third consecutive month in Canada (by 0.2 percentage point to 5.6 per cent) and Korea (by 0.1 percentage point to 3.8 per cent).

OECD unemployment stable at 5.2pc in November

Unemployment rate falls during 2018: The unemployment rate for Madison County continued to drop in 2018 from 3.9 percent in 2017 to 3.3 percent as of September 2018 (as indicated previously in Table 1).

Anderson forecast 2019

Pan Ning-hsin, a senior official with DGBAS told CNA that from June to August each year, the unemployment rate tends to increase as university graduates look for work, and then the unemployment rate decreases as these graduates find employment.

Taiwan's Sept. unemployment rate lowest for month in 18 years

In July 2017, the unemployment rate on the island was 10.7 per cent.

Unemployment rate falls to 7.7% in July

The number of jobseekers immediately able to take up a job was 158,444, an increase of 4,631 individuals m-o-m and a decrease of 70,221 y-o-y, said Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (aSPSVaR) head, Marian Valentovi, as quoted by the TASR newswire.The unemployment rate calculated from the total number of jobseekers amounted to 6.

Unemployment rate reaches historical minimum in Slovakia

The new data show Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province with the highest unemployment rate of 18.3%.

Jobless rate under 10% in nine provinces