On the measurement of unemployment

This paper suggests a new measure of unemployment which takes into account both the intensity and distribution aspects of unemployment. The proposed index is also generalised to a parametric family of measures where the parameter is interpreted as an indicator of aversion to unemployment. It also possesses the property of additive decompasibility which enables us to quantify the contribution for a specific group towards total unemployment. The measure is most suitable for the less-developed economies where major work-activities, especially in the rural area, are often irregular and sporadic leading to frequent entry and involuntary withdrawls from the labour force on the part of workers. An empirical exercise based on Indian National Sample Survey data illustrates the usefulness of the proposed index.