Unemployment

Unemployment
Unemployment occurs when a person who is actively searching for employment is unable to find work. Unemployment is often used as a measure of the health of the economy. The most frequently cited measure of unemployment is the unemployment rate. This is the number of unemployed persons divided by the number of people in the labor force.

Many different variations of the unemployment rate exist with different definitions concerning who is an "unemployed person" and who is in the "labor force." For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' commonly cites the "U-3" unemployment rate as the official unemployment rate but this definition of unemployment does not include unemployed workers who have become discouraged by a tough labor market and are no longer looking for work.

The various schools of economic thought differ on their explanation of the cause of unemployment. Keynesian economics proposes that there is a “natural rate” of unemployment because the skills of laborers and the positions available are slightly out of sync even under the best economic conditions. Neoclassical economics postulates that the labor market is efficient if left alone, but that various interventions, such a minimum wage laws and unionization, put supply and demand out of balance.


Investment dictionary. . 2012.

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  • Unemployment — Un em*ploy ment, n. Quality or state of being not employed; used esp. in economics, of the condition of various social classes when temporarily thrown out of employment, as those engaged for short periods, those whose trade is decaying, and those …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • unemployment — index disuse, inaction Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • unemployment — 1888, from UN (Cf. un ) (1) “not” + EMPLOYMENT (Cf. employment) …   Etymology dictionary

  • unemployment — ► NOUN 1) the state of being unemployed. 2) the number or proportion of unemployed people …   English terms dictionary

  • unemployment — [un΄emploi′mənt] n. 1. the state of being unemployed; lack of employment 2. the number or percentage of persons in the normal labor force who are out of work …   English World dictionary

  • Unemployment — World unemployment rates[1] as of January 2009[update] Unemployment (or …   Wikipedia

  • unemployment — un|em|ploy|ment W2S2 [ˌʌnımˈplɔımənt] n [U] 1.) the number of people in a particular country or area who cannot get a job ▪ The level of unemployment is rising. ▪ areas of high unemployment (=where many people do not have a job) ▪ The… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • unemployment — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ double digit (esp. AmE), high, huge, mass, massive, severe, widespread ▪ low ▪ grow …   Collocations dictionary

  • unemployment —    At the time of the oil crisis of 1973, unemployment in Spain stood at just under 2.5 percent of the active population, but with the recession, the estimated one million Spanish workers in Europe began to return. This influx coincided with an… …   Encyclopedia of contemporary Spanish culture

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