In a search of underemployment figures I ran across this term here: http://books.google.com/books?...ment%20index&f=false (P. 47)
I can't imagine how one can be LESS than unemployed! That's like hitting the bottom of the barrel only to have the bottom give way.

Asa the superunemployed - but just barely.

Hmmm, it's hard to figure out what they mean. The called subunderemployment as "a proxy for discouraged workers." Does that mean that people were unemployed but then took a job below their qualifications and are now frustrated? I couldn't tell from what they said on page 47. Perhaps it's addressed elsewhere in the book.

I think they were referring to those who've quit looking for employment, but I don't really know. That's why I asked here. It smacks of gobbledygook to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Asa Lovejoy:
I think they were referring to those who've quit looking for employment, ...

You're right, Asa.

The Labor Utilization Framework (LUF), originally developed by Hauser in 1974 (later modified), divided the workforce into 6 categories:

S - subunemployed- "discouraged workers," those who had been unsucessfully looking for work for a year or more, gave up, and dropped off the unemployment roles.

U - unemployed - those who are not working but are actively looking for work, those who have been laid off and are waiting to be called back to their jobs, and those who expect to start a job within the next 30 days.

H - low hours of work - "involuntary part-time workers," those who are working less than 35 hours per week but would like to work more.

I - low income - the "working poor," those who work full time but whose pay is less than 1.25 the Povery Threshold and inadequate to serve their basic needs.

M - mismatch - "overqualified," those whose education exceeds their job requirements, such as doctors driving taxis, physicists flipping hamburgers.

A -adequately employed - those employed workers not in the above categories, both full-time and voluntary part-time workers.

S, U, H, I, and sometimes M, are considered "underemployed."

Other versions of this framework list not in workforce as a category and omit mismatch.

Sources:
The Prevalence of Rural Underemployment, by Jill L. Fendeis, Ganesh Rauniyar, and Wan-ling Hsu, the Center for Economic and Community Development, Department of Agricultural Economics, and Rural Sociology, the Pennsylvania State University, University park, PA

Underemployment, in Wikipedia

Underemployment and Depressive Affect: The Moderating Influence of Coping Styles by Irene Kambouris, Masters of Arts thesis,Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, January, 2000, p 21-23.

Rural Underemployment, by Stephen C. Deller, Community Economics Newsletter,Center for Community Economic Development, University of Wisconsin-Extension, No. 242, December, 1996.

Underemployment Trends and Labor Force Structure in Taiwan: 1979-1999, by Hsiu-Jen Jennifer Yeh, Department of Social Welfare, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan, April, 2001., p 3.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,

Great research job, Tinman! Thanks.