Jobs and Employment
Welcome to this section exploring jobs and unemployment. We will explore a variety of aspects of unemployment, including its definition, how it is measured, types of unemployment, and the possible impacts of rising unemployment. The SQA Higher Economics specification for this section
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What is Unemployment?
An individual is unemployed if they are able and willing to work, or actively seeking employment, but are unable to find suitable job opportunities (ONS). If a person is actively seeking work in the previous 4 weeks and ready to work in the next 2 weeks, then they are considered unemployed.
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How is Unemployment Measured?
The Labour Force Survey (LFS): The Labour Force Survey is a quarterly study of the employment circumstances of the UK population, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The LFS surveys a representative sample of the country, typically 1 million people, and seeks to categorise individuals into one of employed, unemployed and economically inactive.
Claimant Count: The Claimant Count measures the unemployment levels based upon the level of individuals who are eligible to claim unemployment-related benefits from the government. It is collated by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and measures the number of people measured as unemployed and actively receiving help from the government. Most commonly, the Claimant Count includes people receiving Jobseekerās Allowance and Universal Credit.
The following graph compares the measurements of the Claimant Count and the Labour Force Survey. Despite using different methods of recording unemployment levels, both display trends in unemployment similarly, showing that they do a good job at measuring unemployment.
The Fraser of Allander Institute regularly publish reviews of the Scottish labour market, and assess the levels of employment and activity in Scotland. If you are interested in learning more about Scotlandās labour market then follow the following link:
Below are some of the key takeaways from this report:
- Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, economic activity among working-age people has risen
- Economic inactivity due to ill-health has risen most notably since the Covid-19 pandemic, it is unclear whether this is due to āLong-Covidā
- There has been a significant rise in economic inactivity due to depression or mental illness since 2019