Part 1: Define each one as either employed, unemployed, not in labor force, not
ID: 1253627 • Letter: P
Question
Part 1:Define each one as either employed, unemployed, not in labor force, not in adult population.
1) Felix is a 25 year old professional tennis player. When he's not competing, he works as a coach at a local tennis club.
2) Janis is a 12 year old student in Middle School. She babysits her younger brother and does other chores, for which her parents give her an allowance of $30 per week.
3) Rajiv is a 30 year old who lost his job as a copyeditor for a local newspaper. He has spent the past few weeks out of work and interviewing for other editing jobs. If his job search doesn't succeed after a few more weeks, he is thinking about going back to grad school.
4) Meagan is an 18 year old who just graduated from high school. She is taking it easy this summer, relaxing by the pool with her friends, and volunteering part time at a nursery.
Part 2:
The table below contains U.S. employment information from February 2008.
Civil Non-Institutional Population (16 years and older)=232,809,00
Employed=145,993,000
Unemployed=7,318,000
Discouraged=396,000
The BLS has several measures of joblessness in addition to the official unemployment rate. Once alternative in the U-4 measure of labor underutilized, which is calculated at the following:
U-4=(unemployed+discouraged)/(Labor force+discouraged)*100
Official Unemployment Rate=?
U-4 measure of Labor underutilized=?
Part 3(connected to part 2):
The official unemployment rate and the U-4 measure of labor underutilized are 2 different measure of joblessness in the economy. If the BLS were to include discouraged workers in the official unemployment rate, the reported unemployment rate would (increase/decrease).
Part 4:
Frictional Unemployment: 1.0%
Cyclical Unemployment: 0.8%
Structural Unemployment: 4.1%
Total Unemployment: 5.9%
Using the table above: True of False. The economy is currently at its natural rate of unemployment?
Part 5:
Define as either Structural, Frictional, or Cyclical Unemployment
1) Automobile demand as fallen during a recent recession, and Haley has been laid off from her job on the assembly line (I think its cyclical but i'm not to sure)
2) Jack recently lost his job as a waiter at a local restaurant. A recent increase in minimum wage keeps local employers from adding more of the low-skill positions for which he qualifies, so he has been unable to find work. He continues to look for a job, but he's considering going back to school for vocational rate. (I think its structural but not sure)
Part 6:
Suppose the world price of steel falls substantially. The demand of labor of among steel production firms in Pennsylvania (increase/decrease). The labor demand among automobile producing firms in Michigan, for which steel is an input, will (increase/decrease). The unemployment resulting from such sectional shift in he economy is best described as (cyclical/structural/frictional/seasonal) unemployment.
I think its decrease, decrease, and cyclical but not to sure.
Part 7:
Which of the following policies would reduce the natural rate of unemployment in the economy. More than one can apply.
1) An improvement to widely used job-search website that allows it to match works to job vacancies more effectively.
2) Establishing government run employment agencies to connect unemployed workers to job vacancies.
3) Offering recipients of unemployment insurance a cash bonus if they find a new job within a specified number of weeks
Explanation / Answer
Frictional unemployment often results from changes in the demand for labor among firms. When the world price of steel falls, steel-producing firms will find it less profitable to produce steel. As steel-producing firms decrease production, the demand for labor with which to produce steel decreases. Job opportunities in Pennsylvania contract. For automobile-producing firms, the decrease in the world price of steel decreases production costs. As automobile-producing firms increase production, the demand for labor in Michigan increases. Job opportunities in Michigan expand. Workers laid off in one sector will take time to find new positions in an expanding sector. These types of sectoral shifts occur continuously in a dynamic economy, so there will always be some level of frictional unemployment.