Note: This is post #98 in a weekly video series on basic economics.

If someone has a job, they’re defined as “employed.” But does that mean that everyone without a job is unemployed? Not exactly.

For the official statistics, you have to meet quite a few criteria to be considered unemployed in the U.S., explains economist Alex Tabarrok. In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Tabarrok explains how unemployment is officially defined by the federal government.

(If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can adjust the speed at which the video plays by clicking on “Settings” (the gear symbol) and changing “Speed” from normal to 1.25, 1.5 or 2.)

Clickhereto see other videos in the Introduction to Economics series.