ABSTRACT
This chapter covers three topics central to labour market studies: unemployment, vacancies and redundancies. Each of these topics is considered in turn. Unemployment statistics are outlined in section 3.2, with particular attention paid to sources of unemployment data; the precise definition of unemployment encompassed by each (and hence the comparability of data from different sources); the scope of current data series and sources – in terms of the range of counts available and their disaggregation; commonly used derived statistics; and an assessment of the key advantages and disadvantages of unemployment data for local and regional research. In sections 3.3 and 3.4 vacancy statistics and redundancy statistics, respectively, are considered. Again, the range of sources, their definitions and scope, and useful derived statistics are outlined. The sections are concluded with assessments of the applicability of such data for regional and local studies. The key points emerging from sections 3.2–3.4 are summarized in section 3.5 and general lessons to be borne in mind when using unemployment, vacancy and redundancy data for local and regional research are rehearsed.
