Professional Documents
Culture Documents
6 Unemployment
6 Unemployment
• Labor Force
• The labor force is the total number of workers,
including both the employed and the unemployed.
• The BLS defines the labor force as the sum of the
employed and the unemployed.
Employed
Labor Force
(135.1 million)
(141.8 million)
Adult
Population
(211.9 million)
Unemployed (6.7 million)
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How Is Unemployment Measured?
N u m b er u n em p lo y ed
U nem p lo y m en t rate = 10 0
L ab o r fo rce
L ab or fo rce
1 0 0
A d u lt po p u latio n
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South-Western
Figure 2 Unemployment Rate Since 1960
Percent of
Labor Force
10 Unemployment rate
Natural rate of
4
unemployment
0
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
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Figure 3 Labor Force Participation Rates for Men
and Women Since 1950
Labor-Force
Participation
Rate (in percent)
100
Men
80
60
40 Women
20
0
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
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Does the Unemployment Rate Measure What
We Want It To?
• It is difficult to distinguish between a person
who is unemployed and a person who is not in
the labor force.
• Discouraged workers, people who would like
to work but have given up looking for jobs after
an unsuccessful search, don’t show up in
unemployment statistics.
• Other people may claim to be unemployed in
order to receive financial assistance, even
though they aren’t looking for work.
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How Long Are the Unemployed without
Work?
• Most spells of unemployment are short.
• Most unemployment observed at any given
time is long-term.
• Most of the economy’s unemployment problem
is attributable to relatively few workers who are
jobless for long periods of time.
Wage
Labor
Surplus of labor =
supply
Unemployment
Minimum
wage
WE
Labor
demand
0 LD LE LS Quantity of
Labor
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Southwestern/Thomson Learning
UNIONS AND COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING
• A union is a worker association that bargains
with employers over wages and working
conditions.
• In the 1940s and 1950s, when unions were at
their peak, about a third of the U.S. labor force
was unionized.
• A union is a type of cartel attempting to exert
its market power.