Employment and Unemployment Flashcards

1
Q
A
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2
Q

What is the working population?

A

the total number of individuals who are of working age, typically considered to be those who are capable of and available for work. It includes both employed and unemployed individuals.

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3
Q

What is the labour force?

A

Those who are either employed or actively seeking employment. It is a subset of the working population and represents the pool of people available for and actively engaged in productive work.

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4
Q

What is economic inactivity?

A

not being engaged in the labour force, includes pensioners, students, homemakers, discouraged workers and others who are neither employed nor actively seeking employment.

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5
Q

What is the labour force participation rate?

A

workers in the labour force compared to the number of people in the working population

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6
Q

What is the employment rate?

A

the proportion of people of working age who are in employment (employees, self-employed, full time & part time

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7
Q

What are the unemployed?

A

someone of working age, willing and able to work, and actively seeking work, but cannot find a job.

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8
Q

What is the unemployment rate?

A

the percentage of the labour force that areunemployed (NB the labour force includes those in work and theunemployed)

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9
Q

What is the Labour Force Survey?

A

this survey asks 60-70,000 UK households to self-classify as being employed, unemployed or economically inactive.

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10
Q

What is the claimant count?

A

this counts the total number of recipients of Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) added to those looking for work to claim Universal Credit (UC).

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11
Q

What are labour market flows?

A

People of working age can be employed, unemployed or economically inactive; over time they may ‘flow’ in and out and between these categories.

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12
Q

What are types of unemployment?

A
  • Regional
  • Long term
  • Mass
  • Youth
  • Discouraged workers
  • Hidden
  • Underemployment
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13
Q

What is regional unemployment?

A

unemployment rate varies across regions.

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14
Q

What is long term unemployment?

A

people unemployed for over 12 months

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15
Q

What is mass unemployment?

A

1 in 10 of the labour force are unemployed

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16
Q

What is youth unemployment?

A

unemployment rate (the proportion of the economically active population who are unemployed) for all 16 to 24 year-olds.

17
Q

What are discouraged workers?

A

inactive work-seekers who have ceased to seek work because they believe there are no suitable available jobs.

18
Q

What is hidden unemployment?

A

people who do not work but who are not counted in government reports, for example, people who have stopped looking for a job and people who work less than they want to.

19
Q

What is underemployment?

A

where individuals are employed, but their employment is insufficient in terms of hours worked, skill utilisation, or income to fully meet their economic needs or potential.

20
Q

What is the gig economy?

A

The gig economy is a work arrangement where people perform short-term, flexible, and often freelance work, typically through online platforms or apps, eg rideshare drivers, virtual assistants, and food delivery workers.
It is linked to zero-hour contracts - employment arrangements where workers are hired without a guarantee of work hours.

21
Q

What is technological unemployment?

A

the displacement of human workers by machines, automation, and technology, such as AI.
Rapid advances in technologyraises concerns about the potential for job loss, economic inequality, and the need for retraining and upskilling workers to adapt to evolving job markets

22
Q

What are causes of unemployment?

A
  • Frictional
  • Cyclical
  • Structural
  • Seasonal
  • Real wage
23
Q

What is frictional unemployment?

A

short-term unemployment caused by people moving between jobs, moving to a new location, or re-entering theworkforce after a break.

24
Q

What is cyclical unemployment and what does it look like?

A

the unemployment rate rises during an economic downturn; it is caused by fluctuations in thebusiness cycle. Sometimes called demand-deficient unemployment. AD shifts left from AD1 to AD2; new equilibrium Y2 is below full employment income Yfe; some unemployed resources at Y2

25
Q

What is structural unemployment?

A

caused by changes in the economy, like the decline of certain industries or the rise of automation. It happens when there’s a mismatch between the skills & location of workers and the needs of employers. A lack of geographical and occupational mobility of labour contributes.

26
Q

What is seasonal unemployment?

A

seasonal workers, such as construction workers, retail assistants, might be without paid jobs due to the time ofyear when there is less need for their work

27
Q

What is real wage unemployment and what does it look like?

A

Caused by wages being too high relative to the productivity of workers; minimum wages and trade union activity can push the wage above its market equilibrium
Current wage is above market-clearing wage W1, causing an excess supply of labour = real wage unemployment

28
Q

What is full employment?

A
  • An absence of cyclical unemployment (the output gap is closed)
  • Number of job vacancies = number of people actively seeking work
    There will always be some unemployment – frictional as people move between jobs
29
Q

What are economic costs of unemployment?

A

loss of output foregone, fall in real incomes, lower standard of living, lower tax revenue, higher welfare costs, larger budget deficit, loss of workers to other countries (emigration) etc

30
Q

What are social costs of unemployment?

A

increase in poverty and welfare dependency, increase in physical and mental health increasing healthcare costs, link between persistent unemployment and social problems (eg vandalism, low level crime, shoplifting etc.)

31
Q
A
32
Q

What are the benefits of some unemployment?

A
  • Reduced risk of inflation – lower wage demands & price discounts
  • Pool of unemployed available for growing businesses
  • Increase in self-employment start-ups, more entrepreneurs/innovation