| Sumario: | A sequence of alternative unemployment indicators makes it possible to measure unemployment according to definitions that range from narrow to broad. In this system, U-5 refers to the conventional unemployment rate; U-1 through U-4 measure the long-duration unemployment, job loser, adult unemployment, and full-time unemployment rates; U-6 is the conventional unemployment rate plus the number of involuntary part-time workers; and U-7 is U-6 plus workers who have given up looking for jobs. A comparison of these measures for 1989 in the U.S., Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the U.K. and for February 1990 in Japan reveals that joblessness of long duration is more prevalent in Europe than in North America. In North America, however, job security is lower than in Europe or Japan. Sweden and Japan had the lowest U-5 rates, but they experienced the biggest proportionate increases when the definition of unemployment was broadened.
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