Science, Tech, Math › Social Sciences What Is the Definition of Unemployment? Share Flipboard Email Print Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News/Getty Images Social Sciences Economics U.S. Economy Employment Supply & Demand Psychology Sociology Archaeology Ergonomics Maritime By Mike Moffatt Professor of Business, Economics, and Public Policy Ph.D., Business Administration, Richard Ivey School of Business M.A., Economics, University of Rochester B.A., Economics and Political Science, University of Western Ontario Mike Moffatt, Ph.D., is an economist and professor. He teaches at the Richard Ivey School of Business and serves as a research fellow at the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management. our editorial process Mike Moffatt Updated March 17, 2017 Conceptually, unemployment is the state of an individual looking for a paying job but not having one. As a result, unemployment does not include individuals such as full-time students, the retired, children, or those not actively looking for a paying job. It also doesn't count individuals who work part-time but would like a full-time job. Mathematically, the unemployment rate is equal to the number of unemployed people divided by the size of the labor force. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes this basic unemployment rate (known as U-3) as well as a number of related measures (U-1 through U-6) in order to give a more nuanced view of the unemployment situation in the U.S. Terms related to Unemployment: Frictional UnemploymentCyclical UnemploymentStructrual UnemploymentUnemployment Rate About.Com Resources on Unemployment: Would 0% Unemployment Be a Good Thing?Globalization, Unemployment and Recessions. What is the Link?Why Do We Use the Unemployment Rate? Writing a Term Paper? Here are a few starting points for research on Unemployment:Books on Unemployment:Search Theory and UnemploymentThe Economics of UnemploymentEnvironmental Fiscal Reform and UnemploymentJournal Articles on Unemployment:Equilibrium unemployment as a worker discipline deviceMigration, unemployment and development: a two-sector analysisUnemployment and labor market rigidities Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Moffatt, Mike. "What Is the Definition of Unemployment?" ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/economic-definition-of-unemployment-1147305. Moffatt, Mike. (2020, August 26). What Is the Definition of Unemployment? Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/economic-definition-of-unemployment-1147305 Moffatt, Mike. "What Is the Definition of Unemployment?" ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/economic-definition-of-unemployment-1147305 (accessed January 28, 2021). copy citation