Employment and unemployment
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| unemployment | 失业 | shī yè |
| unemployed | 失业者 | shī yè zhě |
| unemployment rate | 失业率 | shī yè lǜ |
| labour force | 劳动力 | láo dòng lì |
| frictional | 摩擦性 | mó cā xìng |
| structural | 结构性 | jié gòu xìng |
| cyclical | 周期性 | zhōu qī xìng |
When people can't find work
- Unemployment 失业 wastes the one resource an economy can never get back — people's time and skills.
- Keeping it low is one of every government's central aims.
Development chain lab
Follow how policy and resources can change living standards.
The unemployed are people who are:
Unemployment counts only those actively seeking work.
The unemployment rate is the unemployed as a percentage of the labour ______.
Rate = unemployed ÷ labour force × 100.
What unemployment is
- The unemployed 失业者 are people willing and able to work who cannot find a job.
- The unemployment rate 失业率 = unemployed ÷ labour force 劳动力, as a percentage.
Worked example. A country has 24 million people working and 2 million unemployed and looking for work. The labour force = 24 + 2 = 26 million, so the unemployment rate = 2 ÷ 26 × 100 = 7.7%.
The four types of unemployment: frictional 摩擦性 (between jobs), structural 结构性 (skills no longer match), cyclical 周期性 (low demand in a recession) and seasonal
Unemployment caused by a recession (too little demand) is:
Cyclical unemployment rises when demand falls in a downturn.
A coal miner who loses his job when mines close, and whose skills no longer match new jobs, faces:
A skills/industry mismatch is structural unemployment.
Types of unemployment
- Cyclical: caused by recession — too little demand for goods, so fewer jobs.
- Structural: skills no longer match available jobs (an industry declines).
- Frictional: short-term, between jobs.
Four main aims: growth, low unemployment, stable prices, fair incomes
Retirees and full-time students are counted as unemployed.
They are not in the labour force, so they are not unemployed.
Why it matters
- Costs to the unemployed: lost income, lost skills, stress.
- Costs to society: lost output, lower tax revenue, higher benefit spending.
Not everyone without a job is "unemployed". Students, retirees and full-time carers are not in the labour force, so they don't count. Unemployment counts only those seeking work.
Unemployment means people who want a job cannot find one
You've got it
- the unemployed = willing and able to work but without a job
- types: cyclical (recession), structural (skills mismatch), frictional (between jobs)
- unemployment costs lost output, income and tax revenue