Economic inactivity of young people aged 16-24: Definition, reasons and potential future focus

Annex A: Definitions

Unemployment: The ILO definition of unemployment covers people who are 16 years and over:

• without a job, have been actively seeking work in the past four weeks and are available to start work in the next fortnight or 17, or;
• out of work, have accepted a job and are waiting to start it in the next two weeks

Unemployment rate: The proportion of economically active people aged 16 and over who are employed.

Economically inactive: People not in employment and who do not meet the criteria for unemployment. This group includes:

• those who want a job but who have not been seeking work in the last 4 weeks;
• those who want a job and are seeking work but not available to start;
• those who do not want a job.

Economic inactivity rate: The number of economically inactive people expressed as a percentage of the relevant population.

Sex: Sex is self-reported by respondents participating in the Annual Population Survey (APS). Analysis is based on “sex” rather than “gender”. No documentation is asked for by the interviewer or provided by the respondent

Disability: According to the Equality Act 2010, people are disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities (Definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk))

Urban / Rural: the Annual Participation Measure uses the Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification 2016 as definition for their categories.

Statistical related definitions

Rates: Rates represent the proportion of the population or subgroup with a certain characteristic. They allow changes in the labour market to be interpreted in a wider context by accounting for changes in the population or the number of people who are economically active. Rates can be calculated for different age groups.