How we measure and talk about unemployment matters. Yet many politicians, pundits and the public remain fixated on pure data, measured by a near 60-year-old International Labour Organisation standard – if you work for at least “one hour” a week you are “employed”.. Yet the idea that unemployment is 5 per cent and employment is equal to one hour’s work is laughable. Real fake news.

Any new definition of employment must be based on the ability of a citizen and her or his dependants to earn a “living wage”, not some outdated “minimum wage”. Rather, it should be a version of our nation’s famous 1907 Harvester judgment, that a “fair and reasonable” wage must take into account the “normal needs of the average employee regarded as a human being living in a civilised community”, crafted for this precariat age.

Our job statistics are broken. It’s time to #changethestats.

Just listen to Morrison Lie (ODT)

via The one-hour week and other damned lies in our job statistics