hidden unemployment

1. The unemployment or underemployment of workers that is not reflected in official unemployment statistics because of the way they are compiled. Only those who have no work but are actively looking for work are counted as unemployed. Those who have given up looking, those who are working less than they would like, and those who work at jobs in which their skills are underutilized are not officially counted among the unemployed, though in a sense they are. These groups constitute hidden unemployment.

Because of hidden unemployment, official statistics underestimate unemployment.

Example Sentences

Ruben Enkipolov, a professor of economics at Moscow's New Economic School, said the auto sector's struggles were being masked by "hidden unemployment", where workers were not laid off but instead placed on indefinite furlough.

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Part 1 of this commentary addressed the hidden unemployment gap.

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Part 1 focuses on the hidden unemployment gap, looking at the number and characteristics of people who would be likely to sign up for public-service jobs.

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The number of applicants for guaranteed jobs would depend on the size of the hidden unemployment gap — the difference between the number of people now working and the number who would take a guaranteed job if it were offered.

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Levin and Blanchflower estimate that if you count hidden unemployment and underemployment, the gap between where we are and where we want to be is 3 to 6 million full-time jobs.

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