Unemployment rate

Unemployment is a socio-economic phenomenon in which people who are part of the economically active population of the country are capable and want to work, but they cannot find a job.

In accordance with the methodology of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the economically active population includes busy and unemployed citizens aged from 15 to 72 years.

At the same time, the ILO considers unemployed citizens who did not have a place of work during the analyzed period but were actively seeking a workplace and were ready to proceed to its implementation. Pupils, students, pensioners, and people with disabilities are also taken into account as unemployed but only if, during the period surveyed, they were looking for a place of work and were ready to proceed to it.

The table below shows the main types of unemployment.



The key macroeconomic indicator used to analyze the country’s current unemployment situation is the unemployment rate. It is defined as the percentage of the number of unemployed to the number of economically active people in the country. This indicator can be calculated monthly (for example, in Canada, USA, Russia, Hong Kong, and Italy), quarterly (in Egypt, Latvia, Northern Macedonia, Spain, and France), and annually (for example, in North Korea, UAE, Zambia, Sudan, and Mozambique).

The graph below shows the dynamics of unemployment in countries from different regions of the world for 2016-2021.



The statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) calculates such an indicator as a long-term unemployment rate, which takes into account citizens who are in the status of unemployed for more than 1 year. As of the end of 2020, the maximum values of the long-term unemployment rate were characteristic of Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, and Greece, minimum values - for Norway, Czech Republic, and Poland.

Statistical bodies also calculate and publish indicators such as the unemployed persons, which can be calculated on a monthly basis (such as in the Eurozone), quarterly (such as in Argentina), and annually (in Georgia).

In addition, there is such an indicator as the youth unemployment rate, which takes into account the number of unemployed among citizens aged 15-24 according to the ILO methodology.