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Meaning & use

unemployment rate

noun·Everyday

Last updated

UK/ˌʌn.ɪmˈplɔɪ.mənt reɪt/
US/ˌʌn.ɪmˈplɔɪ.mənt reɪt/

Meanings

  1. nouncountablebusinessfinance

    The percentage of people in a country or area who are able to work but do not have a job.

    Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a high unemployment rate' or 'unemployment rates rose'.

    Patterns

    • the unemployment rate in a country
    • a high/low/rising/falling unemployment rate
    • the unemployment rate among young people

    The unemployment rate fell to five percent last month.

    Economists expect the unemployment rate to rise next year.

    The unemployment rate among young graduates is still very high.

  2. nounsingularbusinessfinancetechnical

    The official figure regularly published by a government to show how many people are out of work.

    Grammar: Often used with 'the' when talking about one country's current figure: the unemployment rate is 4.2%.

    Patterns

    • the official unemployment rate
    • the unemployment rate stands at ...
    • the unemployment rate is published monthly

    The official unemployment rate is published on the first Friday of each month.

    The unemployment rate stood at 6.1 percent in March.

    Politicians argue about how the unemployment rate is calculated.

Word forms

pluralunemployment rates

Common combinations

a rising unemployment rate
A rising unemployment rate worries voters.
the unemployment rate falls
The unemployment rate fell for the third month in a row.
the unemployment rate among young people
The unemployment rate among young people is twice the national average.
the national unemployment rate
The national unemployment rate is now below five percent.
the unemployment rate in a sentence
Try using 'the unemployment rate' in a sentence about the economy.

Synonyms and how they differ

jobless rate
Informal and mostly American; it means the same thing but is used mainly in news headlines.
unemployment
The general situation of having no work; 'unemployment rate' is the specific number or percentage.

Opposites

employment rate

Word family

unemployed adjective
without a job
unemployment noun
the state or level of having no work
employ verb
to give someone a job
employment noun
the state of having paid work

Commonly confused: unemployment rate or employment rate?

unemployment rate vs employment rate

The employment rate is the share of people who do have jobs, so it is roughly the opposite figure.

Practice

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