2.1.3: Unemployment

• Working population: Number of people who are aged 16 or over and are capable and available to work. Includes both employed and unemployed people
• Labour force: Those who are either employed or seeking employment
• Economically inactive: Those of working age who aren't in the labour force, such as students
• Employment rate: Proportion of people of working age in employment
• Unemployment: Someone who is willing and able to work, and actively seeking work but cannot find a job
• Unemployment rate: Percentage of the labour force that are unemployed
• Claimant count (JSA): Measuring unemployment by how many people claim benefits
• Labour Force Survey (LFS) Asks a sample of people to classify themselves as employed, unemployed or economically inactive
• Long term unemployment: Someone who has been unemployed for over 12 months
• Underemployment: Where someone is employed, but working beneath their potential e.g A graduate working as a cashier or someone wanting to work full time working part time
• Frictional Unemployment: Unemployment caused by people moving between jobs
• Cyclical unemployment: Unemployment caused by a lack of demand during a recession
• Structural unemployment: Unemployment caused by a mismatch of skills between skills of workers and needs of employers
• Seasonal unemployment: Unemployment due to lack of seasonal demand e.g Ice cream in winter
• Real wage unemployment: Unemployment caused by wages being too high compared to worker productivity
• Cost of Unemployment: Fall in real income, lower standard of living, higher welfare costs
• Cost of Unemployment: Increase in poverty, increase in crime rates
• Benefit of some unemployment: Reduced risk of inflation
• Benefit of some unemployment: Increase in entrepreneurship
• Discouraged workers: Workers who believe they cannot find a job, so have stopped looking