Table 13.3 gives a comparison of the two measures for selected years and shows that the LFS measure is consistently higher than the claimant count. The LFS definition is the one which is accepted by the International Labour Office for international comparisons. The main reason for the difference between the two measures of unemployment is that people who were previously economically inactive have been encouraged into the labour market to seek work and have by definition become unemployed. They therefore appear under the LFS definition, but because they have not been claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance, they do not appear under the claimant count.