Global Journal of Human Social Science, E: Economics, Volume 21 Issue 4

b) Measurement of Unemployment Unemployment refers to a situation where the labour force does not have enough paid jobs or not working at full use of an employee's skills and ability, which is measured by the number of hours worked per week. Unemployment is calculated in different ways by the national statistical agencies. Such differences limit the validity of international comparisons of unemployment data which differences remain unresolved. However, the nationwide statistical agencies adopt the definition of unemployment by the International Labour Organization. Some organisations, such as the OECD, Eurostat, and International Labour Comparisons Program, have adjusted unemployment data to facilitate international comparisons. The number of unemployed individuals matters, but economists typically focus on the unemployment rate (Jelilov, Gylych; Kalyoncu, Huseyin; Isik, Abdurahman, 2015). For unemployment to be measured, the number of unemployment and the number of labour force must be known and corresponds to the average increase in the number of people employed, relative to the entire workforce of a nation. Therefore, the unemployment rate is expressed as a percentage and is calculated 423 thus: Unemployment rate = Total labour force The International Labour Organization says that unemployed workers are not currently working even though they are willing and able to pay. They are handy to work and have actively searched for work as they could. Anyone actively seeking job placement must make an effort to contact an employer, attend an interview, submit applications with resumes, and respond within the previous four weeks. Those who saw an advert and refuse to apply are not actively looking for a job. For example, in the United States, the unemployment rate does not consider those not actively looking for employment, such as students still attending college. c) The Unemployment Rate The national definition defines the unemployment rate as the ILO harmonised definition. The unemployment rate gives the number of unemployed persons a percentage of the labour 429 force (the total number of people employed plus unemployed). The leading indicator of the job market's unemployment rate is healthy because it does not account for the labour force's full potential. The US unemployment rate was 4.7% as of May 2016, and the underemployment rate was 13.7%. The Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) defined unemployment as the statistics of all jobless people available and willing to work and have continually hunted for a job in the past four weeks. We calculate the unemployment rate based solely on the workforce, excluding persons not seeking a job. There are instances where a person can work but has become too discouraged to seek a job actively. The labour workforce participation rate is the measurement in percentage of the civilian population of 16 years and above who are working or seeking work. The BLS compiles six different unemployment rates, labelled U-1 to U-6; and U-3 is the officially recognised unemployment rate, but U-6 is a better representation of the job market as it accounts for discouraged workers who have left the labour force and are not utilising their complete competence and skillset and workers who have part-time employment but would instead be employed440 on full time. i. U-6 Rate of Unemployment The unemployment rate includes discouraged workers who have quit looking for a job and part-time workers looking for full-time employment. Many economists consider the U-6 rate to be the most revealing factor of a country's unemployment rate as it covers the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed, underemployed, and discouraged. The US government's official unemployment rate and conducted by the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), is called the U-3 rate, which is the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed and seriously looking for a job within the past four weeks. A portion of the unemployed who have not looked for a work in the past four weeks will not be considered unemployed anymore but will instead "marginally added." Therefore, the U-6 rate, on the other hand, is a factor in this marginally attached percentage of the labour force in its unemployment calculation. This added group includes discouraged job seekers who have given up looking for work. This group includes workers who have unsuccessfully looked for work sometime in the past twelve months. The additional workers also include people who have gone back to school as they were not employed and wishing not to be idle, or become disabled, in which case they may or may not return to the labour force. In addition to the marginally attached class, the U6 rate also includes the underemployed labour451 force. So, the underemployed represent people who would prefer full-time jobs but have resigned their fate to settle for part-time occupations due to the economy's prevailing conditions. In essence, the U-3 rate considers the employed, while the U-6 refers to the unemployed. Thus, the U- 6 rate is well-thought-out a better depiction of the economy as it consists of people who would like full-time jobs but cannot find one. The BLS publishes both the U-3 rate and U-6 rate in the monthly job report, which market watchers Volume XXI Issue IV Version I 61 ( E ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2021 © 2021 Global Journals Which of these Economics Jargons - Underemployment, Overemployment, Unemployment, Rightemployment, Unemployed workers × 100