Unemployment

Unemployment is a stock concept, measuring the number of people out of work at a point in time. The unemployment rate, in principle, is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed people seeking work by the total labor force, then multiplying the result by 100. In practice, however, there are many difficulties involved in calculating the unemployment rate. For example, how do we know exactly how many people are seeking work? Would a different number be seeking work if current wage levels were different? Should people who are without a job and who are physically incapable of doing work be counted as unemployed? Are househusbands and housewives to be counted as unemployed, even if they deliberately choose not to make themselves available to the labor ...