Unemployment Rate发表评论(0)编辑词条

What Does Unemployment Rate Mean?
The percentage of the total labor force that is unemployed but actively seeking employment and willing to work. 

Explains on Unemployment Rate
From 1948 to 2004, the monthly U.S. unemployment rate has ranged between about 2.5% to 10.8%, averaging approximately 5.6%.  The unemployment rate is considered a lagging indicator, confirming but not foreshadowing long-term market trends.  

Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work and seeking work but currently without work. The prevalence of unemployment is usually measured using the unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of those in the labor force who are unemployed. The unemployment rate is also used in economic studies and economic indices such as the United States' Conference Board's Index of Leading Indicators as a measure of the state of the macroeconomics.

Most economic schools of thought agree that the cause of involuntary unemployment is that wages are above the market clearing rate. However, there are disagreements as to why this would be the case: the economists argue that in a downturn, wages stay high because they are naturally 'sticky', whilst others argue that minimum wages and union activity keep them high. Keynesian economics emphasizes unemployment resulting from insufficient effective demand for goods and services in the economy (cyclical unemployment). Others point to structural problems, inefficiencies, inherent in labour markets (structural unemployment). Classical or neoclassical economics tends to reject these explanations, and focuses more on rigidities imposed on the labor market from the outside, such as minimum wage laws, taxes, and other regulations that may discourage the hiring of workers (classical unemployment). Yet others see unemployment as largely due to voluntary choices by the unemployed (frictional unemployment). Alternatively, some blame unemployment on Globalisation. There is also disagreement on how exactly to measure unemployment. Different countries experience different levels of unemployment; traditionally, the USA experiences lower unemployment levels than countries in the European Union,although there is variant there, with countries like the UK and Denmark outperforming Italy and France and it also changes over time (e.g. the Great depression) throughout economic cycles.

失业率（Unemployment Rate）

失业率：是指失业人口占劳动人口的比率，旨在衡量闲置中的劳动产能。在美国，失业率每月第一个周五公布，在台湾，则于每月23日由行政院主计处公布。失业数据的月份变动可适当反应经济发展。大多数资料都经过季节性调整。失业率被视为落后指标。

[编辑]造成失业的原因
造成失业的原因很多，因此失业的结构与变动情况是观察重点。失业可分为：

1.摩擦性失业：是指人们在寻找工作或转换工作过程中的失业现象。增加职业训练计划与提高信息沟通（使失业者能确实掌握就业机会）可降低这方面的失业。

2.结构性失业：指市场竞争的结果或者是生产技术改变而造成的失业。结构性失业通常较摩擦性失业持久，因为结构性失业常表示人员需要再训练或是迁移才能找到工作。

3.季节性失业：农业，营建业与旅游业特别容易受季节性因素影响。

4.残余性失业：因无就业能力而失业者。

所谓的自然失业率
自然失业率（natural rate of unemployment）：指充分就业下的失业率。

为摩擦性失业率及结构性失业率加总之和。由于人口结构的变化、技术的进步、人们的消费偏好改变等等因素，社会上总会存在着摩擦性失业和结构性失业。就长期而言，景气循环带来的失业情形常会消弭无踪，社会上只留下自然失业现象，"自然"的定义并不明确，没有人能明确的指出一个社会的自然失业率是多少，它会随着人口结构的变化、技术进步、产业升级而变化，以台湾地区而言，一般认为自然失业率是介于1.5%～2.5%之间。