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According to another HN user the unemployment rate is only 3% so it doesn't appear to be that bad. Those 3% may not include discouraged workers though.

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I'd raise my eyebrows at that 3% stat. Spend a week in Japan and you'll see that it isn't a 50-50 ratio of women: men commuting to work. Are all those housewives classified as employed?

People who don't have a job and aren't interested in getting one, like housewives, are not included in unemployment numbers. What is measured is how much of the labour force is currently unemployed. If you're not in the labour force, you're neither employed nor unemployed. You're just not covered by those particular statistics, just like children and pensioners.

If you're interested in how large a fraction of the working age population is employed, see employment rate.

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