Unemployment

Question 1

Unemployment

Answer 1

those without work who are willing and able to work

Question 2

unemployment rate

Answer 2

the proportion of the workforce who are not employed expressed as a percentage
=no. of unemployed/total workforce

Question 3

claimant count

Answer 3

the people who are actively seeking work and claim job seekers allowance (lower than actual unemployed)

Question 4

labour force survey

Answer 4

includes people who do not claim unemployment benefits (higher than claimant count)

Question 5

those in the labour force

Answer 5

people in work or unemployed

Question 6

those not in the labour force

Answer 6

home makers
students
early retired
discourage workers (given up looking for work)
when these are included, then unemployed becomes economically inactive (not necessarily because may still contribute)

Question 7

measuring unemployment

Answer 7

claimant count

international labour force survey

Question 8

underemployment or hidden unemployment

What, why

Answer 8

some people work, but is not always considered employment
part-time work
low marginal product (people doing meaning jobs; such as USSR, 0 unemployment because people would operate lifts)
over-qualification (people being over-qualified for a job eg. a doctor taxi driver)

Question 9

limitations or problems with measuring unemployment

Answer 9

who is included in labour force (students because lack of work)
under-employed, only employed by name but not really in life (eg. lawyer working a bar) (consider not a problem because receiving income)
survey limitations or smaller value of claimant count
illegal work, but claiming unemployment
concentrations of unemployment

Question 10

types of unemployment

Answer 10

disequilibrium unemployment (real-wage, demand deficient)
equilibrium unemployment
frictional unemployment
structural
seasonal
(regional)

Question 11

frictional unempoyment

What, why

Answer 11

unemployment during the inter-job period,
people who decide not to work
could be caused by imperfect communication between between employers and unemployed workers.
normally short term in nature, but high benefits could extend this

Question 12

structural unemployment
(What, why)

Answer 12

when industries or structure in an economy closes down (can find new work difficult if low mobility of work force)
can be caused by declined demand for a product (eg less coal for more renewables)
intense foreign competition (US steel)
tech advances (redundancies for workers)
it is a natural form of unemployment, but it cold be extended as skill market disappears

Question 13

seasonal unemployment

What

Answer 13

time in-between jobs due their seasonal nature (tourism)

Question 14

solutions for frictional

Answer 14

lower benefits to increase incentive that are available

better information flow

Question 15

solutions for structural

Answer 15

internationalist;
better labour force mobility (education, retraining programs, subsidize firms that train recruits, tax-break or encourage to move to where skills needed, apprenticeship schemes )
free market;
reduce unemployment benefits
deregulate labour market

Question 16

equilibrium unemployment

Answer 16

when labour market could be at equilibrium there would still be unemployment (people unwilling to work)

Question 17

disequilibrium unemployment

Answer 17

occurs when there are conditions that prevent the market reaching equilibrium

Question 18

real-wage (classical)

What

Answer 18

caused by trade unions and government minimum wages interfering with the labour market (classical economist view)

Question 19

solutions to real-wage unemployment

Answer 19

reduce power of trade unions

lowered minimum wage

Question 20

demand deficient unemployment

Answer 20

a slow down in the economy will cause less demand for labour (Keynesian unemployment)
sticky downwards effect because wages do not want to be lowered

Question 21

distribution of unemployment (limitation)

Answer 21

geographical disparities
age
ethnic
gender

Question 22

costs of unemployment

Answer 22

to oneself(less income and standard of living;costs will increase over time, especially mental)
to society (poverty, homelessness, crime and vandalism)
to economy (lower actual output, opp. cost for benefits, less tax income)