Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed during a specified reference period. It is calculated as: unemployed persons divided by the labour force, multiplied by 100; the labour force comprises employed and unemployed persons.

Calculation from labour-force data

For a specified population group, the formula is: Unemployment Rate = Unemployed Persons / (Employed Persons + Unemployed Persons) x 100. Survey weights are applied so that sampled persons represent the relevant population.

• Persons outside the labour force, such as those neither working nor seeking or available for work, are excluded from both numerator and denominator.
• If 60 persons are employed and 10 are unemployed, the labour force is 70 and the unemployment rate is 14.3 per cent.
• A youth unemployment rate restricts both numerator and denominator to the same specified youth age group.

Employment-status classification

Official surveys classify each person as employed, unemployed, or outside the labour force according to their activity and the applicable reference period.

• An unemployed person is one who did not work but was seeking or available for work, as defined under the relevant status approach.
• A person outside the labour force is not counted as unemployed merely because the person has no job.
• The unemployment rate can rise or fall because employment changes, unemployment changes, or people enter or leave the labour force.

Reference-period approaches in PLFS

The Periodic Labour Force Survey reports indicators under different activity-status approaches, so rates calculated under them should not be treated as interchangeable.

• The usual status approach uses a reference period of 365 days and captures the person's relatively long-term activity status.
• The current weekly status approach uses the preceding seven days and captures shorter-term employment and unemployment.
• The numerator and denominator must always use the same reference period, population coverage, and activity-status approach.