A situation which exists when members of the labor force wish to work at the prevailing wage or salary rates for their skills, but cannot get a job. The concept thus refers to "involuntary" unemployment only, rather than the voluntary decision of someone to choose leisure (or productive activity outside the cash economy such as housewifery) rather than gainful employment at prevailing rates of pay. Most post-World War II governments have made it a major goal of their economic policies to keep total unemployment in their national economies at relatively low levels (subject to certain practical constraints and trade-offs imposed by their pursuit of other important goals such as economic growth, low inflation, competitiveness in international trade, and so on).

[See also: unemployment rate, Phillips' curve, trade-off, macroeconomics]