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Article: Unemployment
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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UNEMPLOYMENT
UNEMPLOYMENT.
Few economic indicators are as important as the unemployment rate. A high unemployment rate, such as during the Great Depression, can precipitate tremendous political and legal change. Low unemployment is one of the surest signs of a healthy economy.
To be classified as unemployed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a person must be jobless, but must also be willing and able to take a job if one were offered, and must have actively looked for work in the preceding four weeks. The unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the number unemployed by the number in the labor force, where the labor force is the sum of the unemployed and the employed. The ...