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Indicator of efficiency and effectiveness of an economy to absorb its labour force and of the performance of the labour market.

The unemployment rate conveys the percentage of persons in the labour force who are unemployed. The unemployment rate is a useful measure of the underutilization of the labour supply. It reflects the inability of an economy to generate employment for those persons who want to work but are not doing so, even though they are available for employment and actively seeking work.

Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB)

Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB)

Annual

Percentage (%)

Short-term time series of the unemployment rate can be used to signal changes in the business cycle; upward movements in the indicator often coincide with recessionary periods or in some cases with the beginning of an expansionary period as persons previously not in the labour market begin to test conditions through an active job search.

Persons in unemployment are defined as all those of working age (usually persons aged 15 and above) who were not in employment, carried out activities to seek employment during a specified recent period and were currently available to take up employment given a job opportunity, where:

(a) “not in employment” is assessed with respect to the short reference period for the measurement of employment;

(b) to “seek employment” refers to any activity when carried out, during a specified recent period comprising the last four weeks or one month, for the purpose of finding a job or setting up a business or agricultural undertaking;

(c) the point when the enterprise starts to exist should be used to distinguish between search activities aimed at setting up a business and the work activity itself, as evidenced by the enterprise’s registration to operate or by when financial resources become available, the necessary infrastructure or materials are in place or the first client or order is received, depending on the context;

(d) “currently available” serves as a test of readiness to start a job in the present, assessed with respect to a short reference period comprising that used to measure employment (depending on national circumstances, the reference period may be extended to include a short subsequent period not exceeding two weeks in total, so as to ensure adequate coverage of unemployment situations among different population groups).

Persons in employment are defined as all those of working age (usually persons aged 15 and above) who, during a short reference period such as one week or one day, performed work for others in exchange for pay or profit.

The labour force corresponds to the sum of persons in employment and in unemployment.

is by sex, age group and disability status.

Unemployment rate = (Total unemployment / Total labour force) × 100

This indicator helps SIB to determine the health of the economy of the country for the setting of monetary policy.

Even though in most developed countries the unemployment rate continues to prove its usefulness as an important indicator of labour market performance, and specifically, as a key measure of labour underutilization, in many developing countries, however, the significance and meaning of the unemployment rate could be questioned. In the absence of unemployment insurance systems or social safety nets, persons of working age must avoid unemployment, resorting to engaging in some form of economic activity, however insignificant or inadequate. Thus, in this context, other measures should supplement the unemployment rate to comprehensively assess labour underutilization.

The preferred official national data source for this indicator is a household-based labour force survey.  In the absence of a labour force survey, a population census and/or other type of household surveys with an appropriate employment module may also be used to obtain the required data. 

All the metadata shown in this document was gathered from United Nation Statistics Division. The metadata was extracted from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/.