Macroeconomics - CH23 Unemployment and Inflation

Employment is the number of people currently employed in the economy, either full time or part time. On the other hand, unemployment is defined as the total number of people who are actively looking for work but aren’t currently employed. That means, just because a person isn’t working doesn’t mean that we consider that person unemployed

A country’s labor force is the sum of employment and unemployment, whereas the labor force participation rate is the percentage of the  population aged 16 or older that is in the labor force (either employed or unemployed).

The unemployment rate is the percentage of the total number of people in the labor force who are unemployed.

If you are searching for work, it’s normal to take at least a few weeks to find a suitable job. Yet a worker who is quite confident of finding a job, but has not yet accepted a position, is counted as unemployed. As a consequence, the unemployment rate never falls to zero, even in boom times when jobs are plentiful.

Discouraged workers are nonworking people who are capable of working but have given up looking for a job given the state of the job market (e.g. no suitable jobs are currently available). They don't get counted as unemployed!

Marginally attached workers would like to be employed and have looked for a  job in the recent past but are not currently looking for work. Discouraged workers are part of this group. They don't get counted as unemployed!

Workers who would like to find full-time jobs buta re currently working part time because they can't find a suitable job.  They don't get counted as unemployed!