Question: How are entrepreneurs counted regarding unemployment?
Economist Howard Rosen over at NPR Planet Money answers:
In order to be considered unemployed a worker must be (1) available, (2) able and (3) searching for work.
If your listener starts his own business and stops looking for work, he technically is not counted as unemployed; he is counted as self-employed.
In fact, you do not have to receive a salary in order to be considered “employed.”
Employment determination is not affected by how well a business is doing.
Once a person begins looking for work again, he/she would be considered unemployed, even though they were not technically laid off.
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