Related BLS programs | Related articles June 1994, Vol. 117, No.
6 Randy E. Ilg T he number of unemployed persons and the
unemployment rate are among the most visible and politically
sensitive economic statistics. But while these aggregate
measures certainly are important, policies undertaken to lessen
the extent of unemployment, or its impact after the fact, must
be based on a detailed knowledge of the makeup of the jobseeking
population. For example, joblessness among teenagers can be
quite different, in both cause and effect, from the joblessness
among adult men and women with families. Similarly, policy
implications of short-term unemployment, such as that which
occurs for seasonal reasons or because of temporary fluctuations
in product demand, are much different from those associated with
long-term unemployment stemming from chronic deficiencies in
demand or from structural problems. In recent years, the amount
of time that persons go jobless has been a critical aspect of
the discussion regarding whether