In part, the
GDP is the
government's way of computing the
unemployment rate of the
United States. To compute the rate of unemployment, you must first calculate the
actual GDP and subtract it from the
potential GDP.
Actual GDP, also called
productivity, is simply the
amount of output per man hour worked in the
economy during a particular
period.
Potential GDP is the
Output per
man hour times total man hours available to be worked during a particular period.
As long as Actual GDP is
less than Potential GDP, unemployment occurs. However,
full employment does not mean that employment is at a full
100%.
see:
full employment