Unemployment is when somebody is not employed. In the UK, many people are not working but also are not ¡§officially unemployed.¡¨ These people are inactive members of the working age. To be an active member, you have to be employed or be registered unemployed.

There are two ways of measuring unemployment; the labour force survey and the claimant count. According to the LFS you have to be out of work, be actively looking for work and be available to start work in 2 weeks. The Claimant count is the number of people that are eligible to claim jobseeker¡¦s allowance. The LFS is the standard technique used to compare unemployment rates in different countries; it is employed by most developed countries. The problem with the claimant count is that politicians can alter unemployment by changing the rules as to who can claim benefit. Different countries have different rules about...