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0 pointsthe-dude11y ago0 comments

Unemployment rates are hard to interpret without context : some countries consider a 4-hour/week job as 'employed' ( US? ).

In The Netherlands the unemployment rate fell not because there are more jobs, but because people are exiting the labor force ( retirees, baby-boom ).

edit: typo

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6 comments · 2 top-level

pjc5011y ago· 4 in thread

The UK has done something similar with pushing a large number of people into "self-employment" where their hours are not verifiable.

blumkvist11y ago

But what's the the alternative? MANY people consult and freelance. They are not unemployed. Moreover, their income does not necessarily tie to hours worked.

pjc5011y ago

This is subtly different. It's also not well-documented, but there have been some investigations: http://watchinga4e.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/radio-5-live-inves...

From a longer blog post: http://www.harrowell.org.uk/blog/2013/03/03/the-transition-t... - note the detail that people on "work programme" placements are not counted as unemployed. See https://welfaretales.wordpress.com/category/work-program-2/

The "sharing economy" is another factor in this. If someone signs up for e.g. Taskrabbit and does a few hours a week, they're then "self-employed" and no longer count against the unemployment statistics, they can claim tax credit (especially if they have a child, you get quite a lot) and housing benefit to cover for the fact that the 'work' pays nowhere near enough to live on.

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the-dudeOP11y ago

Many of these people are forced into self-employment because : no jobs. See also : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precariat

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justincormack11y ago

Sure, but surveys suggest that many self employed people would like to get more work, and that they have significantly lower incomes than when they were employed.

The best data is from the RSA https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/re...

minikites11y ago

It's important to remember that the US Government's Bureau of Labor Statistics counts six separate unemployment rates, there isn't just one:

U1: Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.

U2: Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.

U3: Official unemployment rate per the ILO definition occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively looked for work within the past four weeks.

U4: U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.

U5: U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.

U6: U5 + Part-time workers who want to work full-time, but cannot due to economic reasons (underemployment).

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