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Some countries' job centers put jobless people into bullshit training courses that do nothing for them, but being in a course means you are not counted as "look
by tom_mellior 9y ago
Some countries' job centers put jobless people into bullshit training courses that do nothing for them, but being in a course means you are not counted as "looking"/"available" for a while. Other countries do not do this.
The "same restrictions" apply, but countries in the first category will have fewer "unemployed" people even if they have the same number of discouraged/underemployed/jobless/whatever people.
Is that apples to apples?
- macintux 9y ago> but being in a course means you are not counted as "looking"/"available" for a while Are there enough people to whom that distinction applies to be more than statistical noise relative to the other regional variations that would have an impact? Seems like a minor nit to pick in the grand scheme of things.
- tom_mellior 9y agoAustria is regularly criticized for doing this through such measures and others (pushing people into early retirement as well). Here is a thing in English that seems to come for free if you give them bogus personal data: https://www.agenda-austria.at/en/publication/austria-the-land-of-hidden-unemployment/ https://www.agenda-austria.at/en/publication/austria-the-lan... A longer German blurb about this study is here: https://www.agenda-austria.at/oesterreich-das-land-der-versteckten-arbeitslosigkeit/ https://www.agenda-austria.at/oesterreich-das-land-der-verst... They claim 250,000 hidden unemployed for 220,000 "official" unemployed for Q1 2013, i.e., the official figures would be off by a factor of more than 2. But they don't say how many of those hidden unemployed are in training courses. Maybe the full study does say, I can't be bothered.
- macintux 9y agoThanks, surprised it's that significant of an impact.
- lmm 9y agoYes it is, since those countries allow people to claim unemployment while not looking for work (via a rather silly rigmarole way of doing so, but still). At the sharp end, there are fewer people in that country who want a job (whether because they'll lose their unemployment if they don't get one or otherwise) and can't get it.
- tom_mellior 9y agoAll that is true for the unemployment rate itself. It just means that the unemployment rate is not a useful proxy for a country's economic health, as it is often taken to be.