In economics, the term underemployment has at least three different distinct meanings and applications. All three of them involve underutilization of labor that critics say is missed by most official (governmental agency) definitions and measurements of "unemployment." Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Underemployment defined as underutilization of skills

In one usage, underemployment describes the employment of workers with high skill levels in low-wage jobs that do not require such abilities. For example, someone with a college degree may be tending bar or driving a cab or being a cashier. Alternatively, a skilled machinist may be working at a fast-food outlet. This article is about work. ... A skill is an ability, usually learned and acquired through training, to perform actions which achieve a desired outcome. ... A wage is a compensation which workers receive in exchange for their labor. ... A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study. ... For the song by Dave Matthews Band, see Bartender (song). ... Fast food is food cooked in bulk and in advance and kept warm, or reheated to order. ...

This may result from the existence of unemployment, which makes workers with bills to pay (and responsibilities) take almost any jobs available, even if they do not use their full talents. This can also occur with individuals who are being discriminated against, lack appropriate trade certification or academic degrees (such as a high school or college diploma), have disabilities such as blindness or autism, or have served time in jail. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This box:      Most broadly, discrimination is the discernment of qualities and rejection of subjects with undesirable qualities. ... A professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation often called simply certification or qualification is a designation earned by a person to certify that he is qualified to perform a job. ... A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study. ... For other uses, see High school (disambiguation). ... College (Latin collegium) is a term most often used today to denote an educational institution. ... Diploma from Mexico City College, 1948 (in Latin) A diploma (from Greek δίπλωµα diploma) is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study, or confers an academic degree. ... This article is about the visual condition. ... Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior, all exhibited before a child is three years old. ...

Another example of this is someone who holds high quality skills for which there is low market-place demand. While it takes great skill to acquire such academic credentials, they are valued very poorly by the marketplace, so these people often end up taking jobs that do not utilize their full education potential. The supply and demand model describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability at each price (supply) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand). ... A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study. ... Look up Market in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

A related kind of underemployment refers to "involuntary part-time" workers, who could (and would like to) be working for the standard work-week (typically full-time employment means 40 hours per week in the United States) and can only work a fraction of this. Underemploment is more prevalent during times of economic stagnation (during recessions or depressions). Obviously, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, many of those who were not unemployed were underemployed. A full time job usually has benefits (such as health insurance) and are often considered careers. ... This article is about work. ... In macroeconomics, the definition of recession is a decline in any countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year. ... WORLD OF WARCRAFT IS THE BEST GAME EVER INVENTED AND PLAY IT. IF YOU DONT PLAY WORLD OF WARCRAFT, YOU ARE A nOOb. ... For other uses, see The Great Depression (disambiguation). ...

These kinds of underemployment arise because labor markets typically do not "clear" using wage adjustment. Instead, there is non-wage rationing of jobs. Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning of the market for labour. ... In economics, market clearing refers to either a simplifying assumption made by the new classical school that markets always go to where the quantity supplied equals the quantity demanded; or the process of getting there via price adjustment. ... In economics, the concept of quantity adjustment refers to one possible result of supply and demand disequilibrium in a market, either due to or in the absence of external constraints on the market. ... Gas ration stamps being printed as a result of the 1973 oil crisis Rationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services: it restricts how much people are allowed to buy or consume. ...

Underemployment defined as underuse of economic capacity

Underemployment can also be used in Regional planning to describe localities where economic activity rates are unusually low. This can be induced by a lack of job opportunities, training opportunities, or services such as childcare and public transportation. Such difficulties may lead residents to accept economic inactivity rather than register as unemployed or actively seek jobs because their prospects for regular employment appear so bleak. (These people are often called discouraged workers and are not counted officially as being "unemployed.") The tendency to get by without work (to exit the labour force, living off of relatives, friends, personal savings, or non-recorded economic activities) can be aggravated if it is made difficult to obtain unemployment benefits. Regional planning is a branch of land use planning and deals with the efficient placement of land use activities, infrastructure and settlement growth across a significantly larger area of land than an individual city or town. ... The term locality has different meanings in different disciplines: Geography In geography, a locality is a place. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor Look up economics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relates to specific useful skills. ... Childcare (also written child care[1] and babycare) is the act of caring for and supervising minor children. ... Bangkok Skytrain. ... Residency is the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In economics, a discouraged worker is a person of legal employment age who is not actively seeking employment. ... It has been suggested that Workforce be merged into this article or section. ...

Relatedly, in macroeconomics, "underemployment" simply refers to excess unemployment, i.e., high unemployment relative to full employment or the natural rate of unemployment, also called the NAIRU. Thus, in Keynesian economics, reference is made to underemployment equilibrium. Economists calculate the cyclically-adjusted full employment unemployment rate, e.g. 4% or 6% unemployment, which in a given context is regarded as "normal" and acceptable. Sometimes, this rate is equated with the NAIRU. The difference between the observed unemployment rate and cyclically adjusted full employment unemployment rate is one measure of the societal level of underemployment. By Okun's Law, it is correlated with the gap between potential output and the actual real GDP. This "GDP gap" and the degree of underemployment of labor would be larger if they incorporated the roles of underemployed labor, involuntary part-time labor, and discouraged workers. Circulation in macroeconomics Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of a national economy as a whole. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In economics, full employment has more than one meaning. ... -1... The term NAIRU is an acronym for Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment. ... Keynesian economics (pronounced kainzian, IPA ), also called Keynesianism, or Keynesian Theory, is an economic theory based on the ideas of the 20th-century British economist John Maynard Keynes. ... In Keynesian economics, underemployment equilibrium refers to a situation with a persistent shortfall relative to full employment and potential output so that unemployment is higher than at the NAIRU or the natural rate of unemployment. ... In economics, full employment has more than one meaning. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The term NAIRU is an acronym for Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment. ... Graph of US quarterly data (not annualized) from 1947 through 2002 produces the equation: %Change GNP = .856 - 1. ... In economics, potential output (also referred to as natural real gross domestic product) refers to the highest level of real Gross Domestic Product output that can be sustained over the long term. ...

Underemployment defined as underuse of employed workers

The third definition of "underemployment" describes a polar opposite phenomenon: to some economists, the term refers to "overstaffing" or "hidden unemployment," the practice of businesses or entire economies employing workers who are not fully occupied i.e. who are currently not being used to produce goods or services (in other words, employees who are not economically productive, or underproductive, or economically inefficient). This may be because of legal or social restrictions on firing and lay-offs (e.g. union rules requiring managers to make a case to fire a worker or spend time and money fighting the union) or because they are overhead workers, or because the work is highly seasonal (which is the case in accounting firms focusing on tax preparation, as well as agriculture). Note that this kind of underemployment does not refer to the kind of non-work time done by (say) firefighters or lifeguards, who spend a lot of their time waiting and watching for emergency or rescue work to do; this kind of activity is necessary to ensure that if (e.g.) 3 fires occur at once, there are sufficient firefighters available. Alan Greenspan, former chairman, United States Federal Reserve. ... In economics, a business is a legally-recognized organizational entity existing within an economically free country designed to sell goods and/or services to consumers, usually in an effort to generate profit. ... This page includes English translations of several Latin phrases and abbreviations such as . ... In economics, productivity is the amount of output created (in terms of goods produced or services rendered) per unit input used. ... Economic efficiency is a general term for the value assigned to a situation by some measure designed to capture the amount of waste or friction or other undesirable economic features present. ... It has been suggested that Accounting scholarship be merged into this article or section. ... “Taxes” redirects here. ... Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ... For the British Army regiment see the Life Guards A lifeguard in the most general sense of the word is an emergency service worker, who is a qualified strong swimmer, trained and certified in water rescue and first aid, who is responsible for overseeing the safety of users of a...

This kind of underemployed workers may exist for structural or cyclical reasons: The structure of a thing is how the parts of it relate to each other, how it is put together. This contrast with process, which is how the thing works; but process requires a viable structure. ... // [edit] Introduction [edit] Definition If we were to take snapshots of an economy at different points in time, no two photos would look alike. ...

• For example, in Western economies, some firms become insulated from fierce competitive pressures and grow inefficient; they may employ more workers than necessary, and carry the resultant excess costs and depressed profits. In some countries, labour laws or practices (e.g. powerful unions) may force employers to retain excess labour. Other countries (e.g. Japan) often have significant cultural influences (the relatively great importance attached to worker solidarity as opposed to shareholder rights) that result in a reluctance to shed labour in times of difficulty. In centrally-planned economies, lay-offs were often not allowed, so that many workers did not actually do much work on the job.

• Cyclical underemployment refers to the tendency for the capacity utilisation rate of firms (and therefore of their demand for labor) to be lower at times of recession and/or depression. At such times, underemployment of workers may be tolerated — and indeed may be wise business policy — given the financial cost and the degradation of morale from shedding and then re-hiring staff. Alternatively, paying underused overhead workers is seen as an investment in their future contributions to production. This kind of underemployment has been given as a possible reason why Airbus gained market share from Boeing. Unlike Airbus, which had more flexibility, Boeing was unable to ramp up production fast enough when prosperous times returned because the company had dismissed a great part of its personnel in lean times. Another example is the tourism sector, which is notoriously cyclical in areas where attractions are weather-related.

For alternative meanings for The West in the United States, see the U.S. West and American West. ... The term inefficiency has several meanings depending on the context in which its used: Economic inefficiency refers to a situation where we could be doing a better job, i. ... In economics, business, and accounting, a cost is the value of inputs that have been used up to produce something, and hence are not available for use anymore. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... E.G. is an Australian only release EP from New Zealand four piece Goodshirt. ... Solidarity can refer to: Solidarity, the Polish trade union originally led by Lech Wałęsa Solidarity (US), the United States political party formed by the fusion of the International Socialists, Socialist Unity, and Workers Power Solidarity, the newspaper published by the Alliance for Workers Liberty in the UK... A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or company (including a corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a joint stock company. ... A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions about the production, allocation and consumption of goods and services are planned ahead of time, usually in a centralized fashion, though some proposed systems favour decentralized planning. ... Capacity utilization is a concept in Economics which refers to the extent to which an enterprise or a nation actually uses its installed productive capacity. ... In macroeconomics, the definition of recession is a decline in any countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the airliner manufacturer. ... Market share, in strategic management and marketing, is the percentage or proportion of the total available market or market segment that is being serviced by a company. ... The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA, TYO: 7661) is a major aerospace and defense corporation, originally founded by William Edward Boeing. ... Tourist redirects here. ...

See also

• Unemployment
• Employment
• Labor force
• Work force
• Macroeconomics
• Microeconomics
• Supply and Demand
• Wages and Salaries
• Occupational Outlook Handbook
• Discrimination
• Poverty
• working poor
• Idle rich, the term underemployed is sometimes used to describe those who do not need to work, because they are not or never were members of the working class, but were the aristocracy.

This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about work. ... The workforce is the labour pool in employment. ... Circulation in macroeconomics Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of a national economy as a whole. ... Microeconomics (or price theory) is a branch of economics that studies how individuals, households, and firms make decisions to allocate limited resources,[1] typically in markets where goods or services are being bought and sold. ... The supply and demand model describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability at each price (supply) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand). ... A wage is a compensation which workers receive in exchange for their labor. ... The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a publication of the United States Department of Labors Bureau of Labor Statistics that includes information about training and education, earnings, job prospects, and working conditions for hundreds of different jobs. ... This box:      Most broadly, discrimination is the discernment of qualities and rejection of subjects with undesirable qualities. ... A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows what he found. ... Working poor is a term used to describe individuals and families who maintain regular employment but remain in relative poverty due to low levels of pay and dependent expenses. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      The term aristocracy refers to a form of government where power is held by a small number of individuals from an elite or from noble families. ...

External links

• A Study of Underemployment in Kentucky (from the University of Kentucky)
• A Study of Underemployment and Overwork in Australia (from the Australian Parliamentary Library)
• What Can You Do About Underemployment? (career advice article)