An economist would define unemploym

An economist would define unemployment as all of those able and willing to work but who are unable to find work. In the UK, there are at present two commonly used measures of unemployment both of which are reported in government statistical publications – the claimant count and the Labour Force Survey definition. The claimant count was adopted as a measure of unemployment in 1982 and counts unemployment as all those registered as able and willing to work and in receipt of benefit. It has long been argued that this is an inaccurate measure of unemployment since it will overstate true unemployment (as it will include those who are working but fraudulently receiving benefit) and at the same time understate unemployment by excluding many who would regard themselves as unemployed but who are not eligible for benefit (many married women, for example). In recognition of these problems, an additional measure of unemployment has become accepted which is derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This defines unemployment on the basis of a survey of 150,000 people each quarter as: