Definition: Person on lay-off

Category: Social statistics

A person on lay-off is one whose written or unwritten contract of employment, has been suspended by the employer for a specified or unspecified period at the end of which the person concerned has a recognised right or recognised expectation to recover employment with that employer. This category of the population is never considered as employed. They are considered unemployed if they were actively looking for work in the last 4 weeks and if they are available to start work in 2 weeks; otherwise they are classified as inactive.