How is the unemployment stat worked out?

Hi all,

Just wondering about the unemployment statistic that you hear on the news, for example 'the number of unemployed is approaching 15%'.

How is this calculated? Is it 15% of the entire population of the Republic, every man, woman and child from age zero up?
Or is it 15% of a pool of people of working age?
And does it simply mean that the remaining 85% are employed or are there certain groups left out of the statistic?
Are people in college/training included, or retired people, or voluntary workers etc?

Just curious to know what i'm hearing when the stat is mentioned on the news or in the Dail etc.

Thanks for replies.

Any info here (CSO surveys & methodology) - [broken link removed]

The unemployed are those people who are not working, are available for work and are actively seeking work.

The labour force consists of the employed and the unemployed. LF = E + UN

The working-age population means everybody aged 15-64 years. This is divided into those in the LF and those not active in the LF (e.g. students, home duties, retired early, etc.)

The UN rate is the number of unemployed expressed as a % of the LF.

So the UNR is the number of unemployed as a % of the labour force.

Thanks very much for all that information.

According to the CSO:
Target Population:
All persons making claims for Jobseekers Allowance/Jobseekers Benefit or for various other statutory entitlements (ie Credits) at local offices.

Does that mean that anyone who was self employed and isn't claiming Allowance or Benefit isn't included in the statistic?

It'd be quite interesting IMHO to see a further breakdown of the labour force. For example the like of:
% on JA and JB. Age profiles. % in public service. % on minimum wage. % high earners. % part timers. % contractors.

[broken link removed].

There are 3 measures of UN in Irl.

The ILO and the PES measure are contained in the QNHS.

The Live Register is the third measure.