Not in labour force
Also called: Out of labour force · Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
People not in the labour force are those who are neither working nor seeking or available for work. They include students, homemakers, retirees, rentiers (people living on rent or interest) and discouraged workers. The labour force is employed plus unemployed people, and everyone else falls here. This group is left out of the unemployment rate, because that rate is unemployed ÷ labour force × 100.
Example
In a family, the father works in a shop (employed). The elder son is searching for a job (unemployed). The mother is a full-time homemaker and the daughter is at college. The mother and daughter are not in the labour force.
Don't confuse with
- Unemployed: people without work who are seeking or available for work. They are inside the labour force.
- Discouraged workers: they want work, but because they have stopped searching they are counted here, not as unemployed.
Related concepts
- Labour force
- Discouraged workers
- Labour force participation rate
- Worker population ratio
- Unemployment rate
- Usual status
- Principal status
- Subsidiary status
- Current weekly status
- Current daily status