Unemployment | A-Level Economics Notes

These revision notes cover everything you need to know about Unemployment for A-Level Economics. They're designed for students studying AQA A-Level Economics, Edexcel A-Level Economics, and Edexcel International A-Level Economics. Written by Jaisul Naik, UCL Economics graduate and A-Level Economics tutor since 2017.

What is unemployment?

The number of people who are willing and able to work, but cannot find a job.

How is unemployment measured?

Labour Force Survey is a quarterly survey asking 60,000 households about their employment status. An individual is counted as unemployed if they are out of work but able to start work in the next two weeks.

Claimant Count is a count of those who are claiming unemployment benefits like Jobseekers Allowance.

What is seasonal unemployment?

When workers lose their jobs due to a lack of demand during a particular season e.g. tourism

What is frictional unemployment?

When workers are moving between jobs.

What is structural unemployment?

When there is lack of demand for the workers in one particular industry.

For example, UK steel industry (it is cheaper to import steel from China).

Workers need to re-train and work in another industry.

What is cyclical unemployment?

When there is a lack of aggregate demand in the economy, causing a lack of demand for workers across the economy. This changes along with the economic cycle.