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[tom2000]

Structural unemployment is long-term and chronic unemployment arising from imbalances between the skills and other characteristics of workers in the market and the needs of employers. It involves a mismatch between workers looking for jobs and the vacancies available often despite the number of vacancies being similar to the number of unemployed people. In this case, the unemployed workers lack the specific skills required for the jobs, or are located in a different geographical region to the vacant jobs. Structural unemployment is usually a result of structural change. The government can mitigate the problem by providing an infrastructure that offers training in these areas so that the demand for these jobs can be met. For example, the USA provides community colleges so that more people can have the opportunity to increase their skills, which in turn increases the supply of labor in skilled areas.Structural unemployment is one of the five major categories of unemployment distinguished by economists. Structural unemployment is considered to be one of the "permanent" types of unemployment, where improvement is possible only in the long run.

Tom