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Measuring Employment and Unemployment from a Fuzzy Perspective. A Comparative Analysis Across European Countries

Author

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  • Bruno Cheli

    (University of Pisa)

  • Alessandra Coli

    (University of Pisa)

  • Andrea Regoli

    (University of Naples Parthenope)

Abstract

According to the standards set by the International Labour Office, people of working age who have performed some remunerated work during a specified short reference period are classified as employed, regardless of how many hours they have worked, while those who have not been able to work at all (despite wanting to) are classified as unemployed. As observed by many experts in the field, this rigid division between employed and unemployed can conceal labour markets with deeply different characteristics. In particular, the average number of hours worked and, more importantly, their distribution across employees may vary significantly across countries. The aim of this paper is to define fuzzy indicators of employment and unemployment by using the available information on the number of hours worked and the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of workers with this. In this approach, each person in the labour force is assigned a degree of employment between 0 and 1, where 0 means full non-membership in the fuzzy set of employed (and full membership in the fuzzy set of unemployed) and 1 means full membership in the fuzzy set of employed. To show the potentiality of the proposed method, we apply fuzzy measures to Labour Force Survey data from 29 European countries and compare the results with the official employment and unemployment statistics published by Eurostat.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno Cheli & Alessandra Coli & Andrea Regoli, 2024. "Measuring Employment and Unemployment from a Fuzzy Perspective. A Comparative Analysis Across European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 175(2), pages 467-486, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:175:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-024-03330-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-024-03330-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David N. F. Bell & David G. Blanchflower, 2021. "Underemployment in the United States and Europe," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(1), pages 56-94, January.
    2. Andrea Brandolini & Eliana Viviano, 2016. "Behind and beyond the (head count) employment rate," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 179(3), pages 657-681, June.
    3. David Gálvez Ruiz & José Luis Pino Mejías, 2016. "Dealing with Imprecision in Performance Evaluation Processes Using Indicators: A Fuzzy Distance-Based Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 403-423, October.
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