Chapter 9 Review Questions (Unemployment)

Except for recessions, the duration of unemployment for the typical person lasts

Less than six months

The Bureau of Labor Statistics would categorize a person as _______ if they were temporarily away from their job because they were ill.

Employed

The Bureau of Labor Statistics would categorize a retiree who is not working as

Out of the labor force

If the BLS counted persons that are on active military service in the totals for employment, the labor force, or the working-age population, this would

Decrease the measured unemployment rate

Which of the following cause the unemployment rate as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to understate the true extent of joblessness?

Discouraged workers

Which of the following causes the unemployment rate to understate the true extent of joblessness?

Discouraged workers are not counted as unemployed

Refer to Table 9-1. The labor force participation rate for this simple economy equals

(1,100/15,000) x 100

Refer to Table 9-1. The unemployment rate for this simple economy equals

(100/1,100) x 100

Suppose the working-age population of a fictional economy falls into the following categories: 90 are retired or homemakers; 60 have full-time employment; 20 have part-time employment; 20 do not have employment, but are actively looking for employment; and 10 would like employment but do not have employment and are not actively looking for employment. The official unemployment rate as calculated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor would equal

(20/100) x 100

If the number employed is 190 million, the working-age population is 230 million, and the number unemployed is 10 million, then the unemployment rate is

5%

The labor force equals the number of people

Employed plus unemployed

Suppose that homemakers are included as employed in the labor force statistics, rather than being counted as out of the labor force. This would

Increase the measured labor force participation rate

Using a broader measure of the unemployment rate where discouraged workers and part-time workers who wished to work full-time were counted as unemployed, the BLS estimates the unemployment rate in September 2001 would have _______ compared to the measured unemployment rate.

Increased by more than 7 percentage points

An advantage of the establishment survey over the household survey of the labor market is that the establishment survey

Is based on actual payrolls, rather than on unverified answers

A full-time student who is not working is categorized as

Not in the labor force

Someone who is available for work but has not actively looked for work in the previous four weeks would be classified as

Not in the labor force

During the month of May, 10 million workers moved from being classified as "unemployed" to being classified as "employed". As a result,

The unemployment rate fell

Jack lost his job six months ago, and he's been actively looking for a new job ever since. The Bureau of Labor Statistics would classify Jack as

Unemployed

Which of the following explains the changes in the U.S. adult male labor force participation rate since 1948?

Younger men are remaining in school longer as compared to the past