Is this full employment? assessing global labor force dynamics

ABSTRACT

How do we define full employment? It depends on things such as demographics and the particulars of why or why not people are looking for work. Also, have we achieved full employment when some groups are clearly not fully employed? The behavior of earnings and hours also need to be considered. In the US, some groups are not fully employed. Europe appears to be fully employed, but that in part reflects reductions in hours. China shows a substantial mismatch where skilled youth have problems in finding appropriate jobs. Finally, in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, there is sharp difference between the labor markets for nationals and non-nationals.