Definition and rationale |
The relaxed youth unemployment rate is defined as the number of unemployed youth (typically 15-24 years) plus the number of discouraged youth divided by the youth labour force (employment + unemployment).
The relaxed youth unemployment rate (also referred to as youth joblessness) is a measure of the unutilized youth labour potential. Basically, it adds to the standard measure of unemployed youth those who are not technically unemployed because they do not meet the active job search criteria but who would like to work. Some of the advantages of using the relaxed definition are: (i) its ability to capture information on discouraged youth, i.e. those who are not ‘productively’ or ‘usefully’ occupied and that despite not being actively seeking work, would do so if conditions in the labour market improve; (ii) it gives a sense of the size of the youth labour market problems in relation to the youth population as a whole; and (iii) along with the youth unemployment rate, it helps in the interpretation of the employment adjustment process and, in addition, throws further light on cross-country differences in youth unemployment rates. |
Numerator and denominator and method of computation |
Unemployed youth: See indicator 1.
Discouraged youth: A young person is considered to be discouraged if the person is without work in the reference period (e.g., in the reference week), is available to work and would accept work if offered, but did not actively seek work in the reference period. Alternatively, a young person is considered to be discouraged if the person is without work in the reference period, is available to work, but did not actively seek work in the reference period because the person viewed search as a futile endeavor. If the data for establishing discouragement as defined above are unavailable, at the very least, discouragement should be defined as without work and available to work in the reference period; these two criteria constitute the first two of the three criteria for determining the unemployment status of the worker (see indicator 1).
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Relevant ICLS resolutions and guidelines / other international classifications |
Resolution concerning statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment, adopted by the 13th ICLS (October 1982); |
Sources and data collection |
Sources of information comprise: Household-based labour surveys, official estimates and population censuses. However, the information is generally derived from household surveys, the preferred type of source as it allows for the application of the ICLS Resolution. |
Comments and limitations |
See indicator 1. |
