A - Concepts of the labor force, employment, and unemployment similar to those now in use were introduced in 1940. Numerous improvements have been made in the concepts, sampling techniques, and survey procedures and questions, but these have not destroyed the essential continuity of the estimates. However, persons who have been laid off from their work and those waiting to start their new jobs within 30 days are classified as unemployed. Frictional unemployment is short term. It results from a lack of information about job opportunities and the economy's inability to match jobseekers with jobs quickly, and refers primarily to people looking for their first jobs or those who quit one job to look for another.
Structural unemployment is generally of longer duration.
It usually results from the mismatch between the skills possessed by jobseekers and the skills required for the available jobs. Persons who are unemployed due to technological change or because they have insufficient education or skills are considered as structurally unemployed. Structural unemployment also includes joblessness caused by discrimination of any type or imbalances between sections of the country where jobs are available and where the jobless reside. Finally, cyclical unemployment is caused by the periodic changes in business conditions that give rise to inadequate demand for workers in the economy. This is the joblessness that results from the changing seasons, such as the impact of cold weather on outdoor activities or the summer influx of youth into the labor market.