The unemployment rate, also known as Unemployment Rate in English, is an economic indicator that indicates the proportion of the unemployed population in a country. It can be used to measure the supply and utilization rate of the country's labor force. It can also be used to measure the country's Sustainable Development Goal (Sustainable Development Goal). It is one of the important reference indicators for the progress of a country's economic development. The unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed people by the total number of people in the labor force and then converting it to a percentage. Among them, the total labor force population includes the number of unemployed people, the number of working people based on wages or contracts, and the self-employed or self-employed. There are some differences in the definition of the unemployed population in each country, which leads to different numerical values and changing trends in the unemployment rate between countries. Usually, the unemployment rate is calculated and released every month. Since the unemployment rate is usually affected by various economic events, and the impact of these events on the numerical changes in the unemployment rate takes a certain amount of time, the unemployment rate is a lagging economic indicator, which reflects the impact of past economic events on the labor market. The government, central bank, etc. will adjust monetary policies with reference to the unemployment rate, and launch some rescue policies in a timely manner to help people in economic crisis. For investors, tracking the unemployment rate can often reveal the fluctuation trend of the overall financial market, because the unemployment rate is closely related to the development of all walks of life. When a country's labor utilization rate increases and the unemployment rate decreases, it means that more people are involved in building the country, and more employees in various industries improve the productivity of goods or services through their own labor, and at the same time receive corresponding rewards. With stable labor income, the number of people with stable consumption capacity will also increase, which will accelerate the development of the national economy. At the same time, as the unemployment rate falls, the state's financial assistance expenditures for disadvantaged groups will also decrease. On the contrary, when a country's labor utilization rate decreases, the unemployment rate increases, and the number of people participating in labor production decreases, the productivity of goods and services will slow down or even stagnate. A large number of people will not be able to get paid through labor and will not be able to consume. This will generally reduce the country's GDP and slow down the economic development. On the other hand, as the number of unemployed people increases, the government has to increase financial subsidies to this group of people to ensure that they can maintain their daily lives. It can be seen that the unemployment rate is one of the important indicators for measuring the economic growth rate of a country or economy. In the United States, the unemployment rate is one of the most important economic indicators used by the Federal Reserve to observe the health of the economy and adjust monetary policy. When using the unemployment rate, you can make either a month-over-month comparison or a year-over-year comparison. When making a month-on-month comparison, you can observe the employment situation in the economy along the development of time, such as comparing the unemployment rate this month with the unemployment rate last month, to measure the development trend of the job market. However, this comparison method is easily affected by seasonal factors. For example, the unemployment rate may decrease during peak tourism or consumption seasons, but this is not very indicative of the overall economic development speed. When making year-on-year comparisons, you can compare the unemployment rate in the first quarter of this year with the first quarter of last year to avoid the impact of seasonal factors and consider a clearer time-series-based labor utilization situation. Investors usually use unemployment data to see the industries with the fastest rising unemployment, and then usually take steps to sell stocks in these industries or funds containing these stocks, because rising unemployment means that the development of these industries is the most severely hindered. In contrast, industries with a declining unemployment rate mean that the current development trend is good and the industry can provide sufficient employment opportunities. High labor utilization also means that the overall upward trend of the industry is healthy, so investors usually choose to invest additional in these industries. On the other hand, the level of unemployment will directly affect the rise and fall of interest rates, because when the unemployment rate rises, the central bank will lower interest rates to help stimulate a weak economy, and when the unemployment rate falls, it will raise interest rates to prevent possible excessive inflation. Therefore, for investors who track interest rates, paying attention to the unemployment rate can help them judge market trends in a timely manner.
In the foreign exchange market, the level of unemployment will also affect the value trend of the national currency in the international market. Taking the U.S. dollar as an example, when the unemployment rate drops, the U.S. economy will show a trend of rapid growth, the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, and the value of the U.S. dollar will rise in the foreign exchange market. Therefore, for investors who engage in foreign exchange transactions, tracking the unemployment rate can predict the value of the U.S. dollar to a certain extent. How is the U.S. unemployment rate calculated? The U.S. unemployment rate is calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor and published on its portal on the first Friday of every month. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts unemployment statistics based on various definitions of unemployed persons, the most important of which are six categories, namely U-1 to U-6. The most important of the six categories of unemployment rate is U-3, which is called the overall unemployment rate. Unemployed people refer to people over 16 years old and under 65 years old who are not working but have been actively looking for work in the past four weeks. U-1 is for long-term unemployed people who have been unemployed for at least 15 weeks; U-2 refers to short-term unemployed persons who have been unemployed for less than one month; U-4 refers to people who are unemployed and discouraged from finding a job; U-5 refers to other marginalized workers; U-6 refers to anyone who is technically unemployed, is working part-time but would prefer to work full-time, and anyone who has looked for work in the past 12 months but has not looked for work in the last 4 weeks. It should be noted that those who are temporarily laid off while waiting to be recalled will also be included in the unemployment rate, but those who have completely given up employment are not included in the unemployment rate. Therefore, some people will think that the actual unemployment rate should be higher than the reported value. The unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the number of people counted as unemployed by the total labor force and then converting it to a percentage value. The total labor force is the sum of unemployed people and employed people. In the calculation of employees, if you work for pay in your own business or if you work for more than 15 hours without pay, you will be counted as an employee; if you are temporarily absent from work due to illness, weather, vacation, strike or personal reasons, you will also be considered as an employee. Those who are not eligible to work are not included in the total labor force, including students, retirees, and people who stay at home to care for their families. How is China’s unemployment rate calculated? China's unemployment rate is produced by the National Bureau of Statistics of China and published monthly on its portal. China's unemployment rate is calculated using the international standard calculation method, which is to divide the number of unemployed people by the total labor force and then convert it into a percentage value. According to Chinese law, the definition of unemployed people is those who are over 16 years old, currently unemployed, actively looking for work in the past three months, and can start working within 2 weeks if there is a suitable job. The definition of the employed population is the number of people aged 16 or above who have performed paid labor or self-employment for more than 1 hour in the past week. It should be noted that when China currently counts the unemployment rate, the population counted is limited to the urban population, including those migrant workers who have lived in cities for more than 6 months, and the rural population is not counted. Before 2018, the statistical method was to use the active registration of the unemployed population. After 2018, the statistical method was to use the labor force survey conducted by the Bureau of Statistics to conduct population statistics. Every month, the employment status of a certain number of households will be sampled and surveyed on a proportional basis. After two consecutive months of continuous survey, the survey will stop for 10 months, and then continue the survey for another two months to avoid sample duplication. In addition to conducting national unemployment rate statistics, the National Bureau of Statistics of China will also produce classified unemployment rate reports for different age groups, different regions, and different household registration types. How to check the U.S. unemployment rate? Step 1: Go to the homepage of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Step 2: Enter the "ECONOMIC RELEASES" column on the homepage: Step 3: Drag down the page and find “Employment Situation” Step 4: Find Form A-15 on the Employment Situation page Step 5: Then you can see the U-1 to U-6 data for the latest few months. How to check China’s unemployment rate?
If you need to check China's unemployment rate, you can go to the official website of the National Bureau of Statistics of China: http://www.stats.gov.cn/ Step 1: After entering the official website homepage, click to enter the "Statistics" column in the menu bar above: Step 2: After entering the data page, you can enter "unemployment rate" in the search bar to quickly find the released unemployment rate survey reports for various items and periods.