2. Read the Wall Street Journal: Write down your answers.
1. Why is the unemployment rate misleading?
2. Is there a problem with so many men dropping out of the labor force?
3. Who are the underemployed?
4. Do you think the government should report more data from the BLS? If so, what data would you like to see reported.

3. Key Economic Concepts
To be counted as employed, you must be working at least one hour a week
To be considered unemployed-You must be without work and seeking work
The labor force (LF) is the number of employed (E) plus the number of unemployed(U).
The unemployment rate (UR) is the percentage of the labor force classified as unemployed.
UR=100*(U/LF)
People unemployed who have stopped looking are “out of the labor force) and are not counted.
The civilian labor force is all people over 16- not incarcerated or in the military and able to work.

4. Current Events http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm
Once on the site: read through the page and what do you notice?
What do the U4, U5, and U6 measure?
Compare North Carolina with another state ( you decide) in those categories and how are they different?
Scroll to the bottom and which states have the lowest underutilization and which states have higher rates? Why might that be?
Why would the government only report U3 as opposed to reporting the actual U6 unemployment rate?

5. Once on the site: Click on National Unemployment Rate
Scroll down and go to Frequently asked questions and click on
What are the Basic Concepts. : Read the whole page and take note of facts you did not know or find interesting.
Go back to Home Page and click on CPI. Complete questions on the board.

6. Current Events
oyment_and_terrorism.html
Take a look at this TED talk from a Human Rights activist. Jobs create opportunity and opportunity creates hope for a future.

7. WHAT ABOUT THE UNDEREMPLOYED
WHAT ABOUT THE UNDEREMPLOYED? What about people completely dropping out of the labor force. The labor force participation rate is the lowest in 15 years. Why is that a problem?

8. Three Types of Unemployment (Module 12 and 13)
1. Frictional
2. Structural
3. Cyclical
How do we calculate unemployment?
Labor force=unemployed + employed
100x (unemployed)/(Labor force)

9. Business Cycles flows

10. #1. Frictional Unemployment
Temporarily unemployed or between jobs.
Qualified workers with transferable skills but they aren’t working.
Examples:
High school or college graduates looking for jobs.
Individuals that were fired and are looking for a better job.
You’re
Fired!

12. Seasonal Unemployment
A specific type of frictional unemployment which is due to time of year and the nature of the job.
These jobs will come back
Examples:
Professional Santa Clause Impersonators
Construction workers in Michigan 12

14. #2. Structural Unemployment
Changes in the structure of the labor force makes the worker’s skills obsolete and the jobs will not be coming back.
Workers must learn new skills to get a job.
The permanent loss of these jobs is called “creative destruction.”
Examples:
VCR repairmen
Carriage makers

15. Technological Unemployment
Type of structural unemployment where automation and machinery replace workers causing unemployment
Examples:
Auto assemblers fired as robots take over production
Producers of Capital Goods (tractors) fire assembly workers 15

16. The top 20 jobs that are in danger of computerisation, according to the Oxford report, are:
1.Telemarketers
2.Title examiners, abstractors and searchers
3.Hand sewers
4.Mathematical technicians
5.Insurance underwriters
6.Watch repairers
7.Cargo and freight agents
8.Tax preparers
9.Photographic process workers and processing machine operators
10.New Accounts clerks
11.Library technicians
12.Data entry keyers
13.Timing device assemblers and adjusters
14.Insurance claims and policy processing clerks
15.Brokerage clerks
16.Order clerks
17.Loan officers
18.Insurance appraisers (auto damage)
19.Umpires, referees and other sports officials

17. #3 Cyclical Unemployment
Unemployment that results from economic downturns (recessions).
As demand for goods and services falls, demand for labor falls and workers are fired.
Examples:
Steel workers laid off during recessions.
Restaurant owners fire waiters after months of poor sales due to recession.
This sucks! 17

18. Review: HOW TO CALCULATE UNEMPLOYMENT
Rule: Unemployed are those who are jobless, looking for work and available to work.
IF NOT SEEKING WORK THEN NOT COUNTED AS UNEMPLOYED
Survey of 60K people done once a month
LABOR FORCE = total of those actually employed and those who are unemployed
Unemployment Rate = # of unemployed x 100
Labor Force

19. The Labor Force Participation Rate
Labor Force Participation Rate = Labor Force___________ X 100
Population age 16 and older

20. The Natural Rate of Unemployment (NRU)
Two of the three types of unemployment are unavoidable:
Frictional unemployment (TEMPORARY)
Structural unemployment (OBSOLETE)
Together they make up the natural rate unemployment (NRU).
America is at full employment if we have NRU.
This is the normal amount of unemployment that we SHOULD have.

21. Full employment means NO Cyclical unemployment!
Economists generally agree that unemployment rate of around 4 to 6 % is full employment.
4-6% Unemployment = NRU
Okun’s Law: When unemployment rises 1 percent above the natural rate, GDP falls by about 2 percent

22. 22

23. Rule: There is a negative relationship between unemployment and growth
Rule: There is a negative relationship between unemployment and growth. Unemployment rises in a recession and usually falls during a period of economic expansion.

24. Unemployment Rates of Different Groups, 2007
Unemployment Rates of Different Groups, It is much higher now for all groups but especially for non-college graduates.

25. The Effect of a Minimum Wage on the Labor Market

26. Unemployment Comparison for the last decade

27. Differences in state unemployment rate usually don’t last too long because people will move from a state with a high unemployment rate to one with a low unemployment rate

28. The natural rate in France and Germany is around 8–10%
The natural rate in France and Germany is around 8–10%. Higher than America. Why?
Some economists attribute difference to more generous unemployment benefits in European countries
U.S. unemployment benefits usually last for 6 months
Unemployment benefits in some European countries are indefinite
Generous benefits reduce incentives to search for a job 28

29. What’s wrong with the unemployment rate?
Can hide actual unemployment rate: (Sept.2011 is 9.2%)
Discouraged job seekers-
Some people are no longer looking for a job because they have given up.
Part-Time Workers-
Someone who wants more shifts but can’t get them is still considered employed.
Race/Age Inequalities-
Hispanics – 11% for Sept. 2011
But teenage rate is 27%
African American- 16% for Sept. 2011
But teenage rate is 45%
Illegal Labor-
Many people work under the table.
Marginally attached worker:
Would like work and have looked but are not currently looking. 29

30. Alternative Measures of Unemployment, 1994–2010 reveals that actual jobless number is much higher.

31. The Changing Makeup of the U.S. Labor Force 1948–2009

32. Structural Unemployment
Minimum wages - a government-mandated floor on the price of labor. In the U.S., the national minimum wage in 2009 was $7.25 an hour.
Unions - by bargaining for all a firm’s workers collectively (collective bargaining), unions can often win higher wages from employers than the market would have otherwise provided when workers bargained individually.

33. Structural Unemployment
Efficiency wages - wages that employers set above the equilibrium wage rate as an incentive for better performance.
Side effects of government policies - public policies designed to help workers who lose their jobs; these policies can lead to structural unemployment as an unintended side effect.

35. Here’s where we were and now…
-landscape-of-the-nation.html?_r=0
This is from 2011
unemployment-figures-december.html
Take a moment between now and the weekend and read this article. What can you summarize and deduce from what you have already learned in AP and what does the unemployment rate have to do with the Federal Reserve?

36. MIT Economics Professor calls Americans stupid? Are you?
explainer/
Rand Paul is a doctor and advocates free market fix.
The ACA --- will it help economic growth or hinder it in the long term? Why do you think politicians never tried Free Market ideas to fix it?
Why is it important to understand finances and economics as a voter?

37. In class exercise

39.
Let’s recap with Mr. Clifford