difference between 失业率 and 就业率？

jkdfj
 March 20, 2012, 05:49 AM posted in General Discussion

Can anyone explain the differnce between
失业率 and 就业率？

I was teaching an English class and the mentioned "unemployment rate" to my Chinese students. When I saw that most of the students didn't understand I said 
就业率，but then everyone said "ohh, 失业率". I then said, "oh, okay, I thought it was 就业率", but the students made it seem like it wasn't proper to use  就业率 . 

Can anyone explain?  

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podster
 March 20, 2012, 10:14 AM

Unemployment rate is 失业率. There is a word 就业率, but it means "employment rate." The measures are related, but not the same. The definitions may vary from country to country but in the US the unemployment rate measures the number of people who could work and who are not employed but are considered to be looking for work. The employment rate would be the portion of the available workforce that is employed. The unemployment rate could go down without the employment rate going up if, for example, the number of people excluded from the ranks of the unemployed declines because more of them are considered to be no longer looking for work.