Counting the Jobless: The Impact of Job Rationing on the Measurement of Unemployment

Abstract

This paper contends that the official definition of unemployment is poorly designed to reflect the size of the population available for work. Certain cultural and normative assumptions which develop as a consequence of the limited supply of jobs influence many individuals who are interested in working to behave in ways which exclude their being classified as unemployed. One of the most important norma tive considerations affecting labor market behavior is how strongly the individual feels he or she has a right to a job and an obligation to work. These expectations are part of what we refer to as a "job rationing ideology," a system of shared beliefs about who should have the greatest access to the limited supply of jobs. Empirical traces of the job rationing ideology can be shown in Social Security regulations and welfare restrictions and in the responses of individuals inter viewed in a pilot study. Secondary analysis of data for women aged 30 to 44, collected by the National Longitudinal Study of Work Experience, supports a model of a continuum of attachment to employment. Because active job seeking is not an equally valid measure of interest in working or even likeli hood of finding employment for all population subgroups, a need exists for measures of labor supply which recognize rather than ignore normative considerations.