EXTENDED UNDERUTILISATION

While the underutilisation rate reflects the number of people in the labour force who are not being (fully) utilised, in addition there are some people outside the labour force who could be considered part of the potential labour supply.

The extended labour force underutilisation rate is the broadest measure of underutilised labour and is a measure that includes the unemployed, the underemployed, discouraged jobseekers, and a group of people who are actively looking for work, who are unavailable to start work in the reference week, but who are available to start work within four weeks.

The extended labour force underutilisation rate generally declined between August 1994 and 2008 (from 17.2% to 10.6%), before rising to 14.3% in 2009.