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| Concepts |
| Key statistical concept The unemployed comprise all persons above a specified age, who during the reference period were: - without work, i.e. were not in paid employment or self-employment during the reference period. - Currently available for work, i.e. were available for paid employment or self-employment during the reference period. - Seeking work, i.e. had taken specific steps in a specified recent period to seek paid employment or self-employment. The specific steps may include registration at a public or private employment exchange; application to employers; checking at worksites, farms, factory gates, market or other assembly places; placing or answering newspaper advertisements; seeking assistance of friends or relatives; looking for land, building, machinery or equipment to establish own enterprise; arranging for financial resources; applying for permits and licences, etc. In the application of the criterion of current availability for work, appropriate tests should be developed to suit national circumstances. Such tests may be based on notions such as present desire for work and previous work experience, willingness to take up work for wage or salary on locally prevailing terms, or readiness to undertake self-employment activity given the necessary resources and facilities. Persons temporarily absent from their jobs with no formal job attachment who were currently available for work and seeking work should be regarded as unemployed in accordance with the standard definition of unemployment. Countries may, however, depending on national circumstances and policies, prefer to relax the seeking work criterion in the case of persons temporarily laid off. Students, homemakers and others mainly engaged in non-economic activities during the reference period who satisfy the criteria mentioned above should be regarded as unemployed on the same basis as other categories of unemployed persons. |