Underemployment Remains High

Underemployment v Unemployment

UK unemployment in March 2015 has fallen by 102,000 to 1.86 million in the three months to January, official figures show.

The unemployment rate remains at 5.7% but the number of people in work is at an all-time high, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance also fell to 791,200, its lowest level since 2008.

Average earnings in the three months to January, including bonuses, rose 1.8% compared with a year earlier.

However underemployment is the key issure here. It can be clearly seen that there is over 10% of the workforce under-employed.  

The underemployment index measures the excess supply of hours in the economy. It adds together the hours that the unemployed would work if they could find a job and (ii) the change in hours that those already in work would prefer to form a total measure of surplus hours. This is then expressed as a percentage of the sum of hours worked and surplus hours to give the underemployment rate.  

The BellBlanchflower data will be published each quarter by The Work Foundation. It is developed by Professor David N.F. Bell and Professor David G. Blanchflower.