hidden unemployment

Hidden Unemployment

A term used to describe persons who are unemployed or underemployed but who are not counted in official unemployment statistics. For example, the hidden unemployed include persons who no longer actively look for work because they have returned to school for retraining, or persons who have decided to stay at home with their children but would in theory be open to go back to work. These persons are not considered part of the labor force and thus are not included in statistics. Some analysts believe that the existence of hidden unemployment means that unemployment statistics are inherently skewed, but this is not a universal opinion.

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hidden unemployment

a situation in which although people are technically in employment, their PRODUCTIVITY is negligible or zero. This can occur when powerful trade unions are able to operate restrictive labour practices such as OVERMANNING or where governments employ vast bureaucracies of civil servants.

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