Sir, – Dan O’Brien (Business, January 25th) drew attention in a striking way to an issue that has for many years obscured the measurement of unemployment both over time and for comparison across countries. Too often in many countries falls in unemployment rates have been accompanied by equally large rises in the proportion of the active age population on disability benefit, without explanation.
We need a regular series on unemployment and disability rates so that trends in each can be compared and analysed. Otherwise we – and indeed all OECD countries – could be missing out on a very important feature of modern-day labour markets. – Yours, etc,