Sociology / Unit 9 Soc 1561 short lesson, about 20 seconds
How the Unemployment Rate Is Counted
Captions available
The idea
The unemployment rate counts jobless people available for work who actively searched in the past four weeks.
In practice
A worker on temporary layoff counts as unemployed without searching, while one who stopped searching after months of rejection drops out of the labor force.
Where people slip
A reported rate is narrower than "everyone without a job"; search and layoff rules decide who counts.
Your place on the trail
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