The number of persons who have
jobs, expressed as a percentage of the total
workforce. The employment rate is not used as commonly as the
unemployment rate but it is still an important
indicator of the state of the wider
economy. It is a
lagging indicator; that is, following a
recession, the employment rate tends not to grow to any significant extent until the remainder of the
economy has recovered. This is because of the high
risk and
expense of creating jobs.