Yep, pretty much all western countries do this. When you look into the statistics, the requirements to be counted as 'unemployed' are always unexpectedly stringent, and the real figure is typically anywhere between 2x-10x higher than reported.
If you're in the UK and not employed but actively seeking employment, if you want to count towards the 'unemployed' figure, you typically need to be housing yourself, you must be looking for a minimum of ~20 hours a week of work, you can't be casually employed (even if you work an average of ~0 hours a week), you can't have been unemployed for less than one month nor for over 6 months, you can't have most recently been a student, you can't be volunteering, you can't be minding children regularly, the list goes on.
If you want the accurate number of "people who are actively looking for meaningful employment because they need money", you're out of luck.
It also doesn’t count people who’ve given up looking for work. Double whammy
Yep, pretty much all western countries do this. When you look into the statistics, the requirements to be counted as 'unemployed' are always unexpectedly stringent, and the real figure is typically anywhere between 2x-10x higher than reported.
If you're in the UK and not employed but actively seeking employment, if you want to count towards the 'unemployed' figure, you typically need to be housing yourself, you must be looking for a minimum of ~20 hours a week of work, you can't be casually employed (even if you work an average of ~0 hours a week), you can't have been unemployed for less than one month nor for over 6 months, you can't have most recently been a student, you can't be volunteering, you can't be minding children regularly, the list goes on.
If you want the accurate number of "people who are actively looking for meaningful employment because they need money", you're out of luck.