Between 1880 and 1935, census takers in several countries began asking questions about employment and unemployment to help inform their nations’ economic planning. Census enumerators were told to define a person as unemployed if he or she had generally been gainfully employed previously, but were not currently working.
Unfortunately, this definition led to many difficulties, such as pinpointing whether an individual left the work force voluntarily for retirement or further training and underestimating the
