2.1.3 - Employment and unemployment

Question 1

Define Underemployed

Answer 1

those who would work more hours if available OR are in jobs which are below their skills level

Question 2

Define Labour Force

Answer 2

includes both employed (employees and self-employed) and unemployed people, but not the inactive

Question 3

Define Population of working age

Answer 3

the total number of people between the school leaving age (18) and the retirement age

Question 4

Define Employment

Define Unemployment

Answer 4

1.) those in paid work

2.) individuals of working age who are not in paid work and are actively seeking work

Question 5

Define Short Term Unemployed
Define Long term Unemployed

Answer 5

1.) those unemployed for less than a year
2.) those unemployed for more than a year

Question 6

Define Inactive

Answer 6

Those not in paid work and not actively seeking for employment

Question 7

Define Employment Rate

Answer 7

Number of those in work (self - employed and employees)

÷

population of working age

Question 8

Define Unemployment Rate

Answer 8

Unemployed

÷

population of working age

Question 9

Name two measures of unemployment

Answer 9

1.) International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UK Labour Force Survey (LFS)

2.) Claimant Count

Question 10

Explain UK Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Answer 10

. The LFS is a survey conducted by the ONS

. A sample is taken to collect data, which is used to find the unemployment rate.

Question 11

Explain Claimant Account

Answer 11

. A measure of the total number of people who are claiming unemployment benefits

. It is used to measure unemployment

Question 12

Issues with Claimant Account

(Evaluation)

You can use this if you are given a figure about employment and evaluate it

Answer 12

1. ) Hard to compare between with countries. For example, some low income countries may not even have unemployment benefits and conditions to claim benefits are very different between countries
2. ) Claimant account population is lower than LFS, this is as not every person will claim benefits even if thy are eligible; this could due due to shame
3. ) Not every can claim unemployment benefits due to strict conditions so it is not an accurate measure of unemployment as the claimant account population will be lower than actual unemployment level. For example, if you have a spouse earning a certain amount of income you won’t be eligible

Question 13

Issues with Labour Force Survey

(Evaluation)

You can use this if you are given a figure about employment and evaluate it

Answer 13

1.) Sampling Size is an issue due to it being small. Only 100,000 people are sample to represent to entire working age population of the country. This might make LFS inaccurate

. LFS is very expensive. This explains why the sample size is small

2.) LFS does not include discouraged workers. These workers are called the hidden unemployed. Some individuals apply for numerous jobs and get rejected and eventually they are discouraged and are not actively seeking for work. Since they are not actively seeking for job, they are not included in LFS, but in reality they should. In reality, LFS could be higher

3. ) The under - employed may be counted incorrectly in LFS. The under - employed are counted as fully employed in LFS. To be counted as fully employed, you only need work 1 hour a week. Also individuals working on zero hours contracts are still counted as fully employed, when actually you are not, as you are partially unemployed.