The percentage of people in the labor force who are actively looking for work but do not currently have a job. It is a key measure of economic health and is tracked monthly by government statistics agencies. A lower unemployment rate generally indicates a stronger economy.
If a country has 160 million people in its labor force and 6.4 million are unemployed, the unemployment rate is 4%. This means that 4 out of every 100 people actively seeking work do not have a job.
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