Who counts as unemployed, and who quietly disappears from the number?

You count as unemployed only if three things are true at once: you have no work, you could start soon, and you have actively looked recently. Eurostat, following the standard of the International Labour Organization, counts as unemployed those aged 15 to 74 who are not working, have looked for work in the last four weeks, and are ready to start within two weeks. The unemployment rate is the number of such people as a percentage of the labour force, meaning the employed plus the unemployed.

"Actively" is a strict word. Looking for work means making an effort: contacting employers, going to interviews, sending out applications or answering advertisements. Simply looking at advertisements and not responding does not count. And the labour force leaves out the economically inactive, such as school children, students and pensioners.

That is how someone quietly disappears from the number. A discouraged worker is of working age and would prefer to be working, but has stopped actively seeking a job, or has not found one after a long spell without work. As a general practice, such people are not part of the labour force and are not counted in most official unemployment rates. A person who loses a job, searches for months and then gives up leaves the figure without ever finding work.

The count can also be pushed the other way. In some countries unemployment benefits can inflate the statistics by giving an incentive to register as unemployed. So the unemployment rate is a careful definition, not a count of everyone who wants a job.