ECON 480 OSU labor economics final exam e-campus

in 2017, households in the top 5% had incomes of ___________ or more. In contrast, households in the lowest quintile had incomes of ___________ or less.

$237,035, $24,638

real median household income in the us in 2017 as reported by the us census bureau was

$61,372

The area under a Lorenz curve is 0.30. What is its Gini Coefficient?

0.40

The Gini Index reported by the census bureau (using money income) in 2017 was

0.482

empirical studies of wage differentials between black men and white men estimate that

1/3 of the differential cannot be explained by differences in observable variables (including human capital measures)

Approximately what percentage of US workers were union members in 2010?

11.4

imports of goods and services from foreign countries to the us constituted _______ percent of all american purchases in 2012.

17

in 2017, the percent of money income going to the top 5% of households was _______, while the bottom 60% received _________.

22.3%, 25.6%

The natural rate of unemployment is easily measured and economist generally agree on its definition (t/f)

false

arbitration is a noncoercive method of resolving a dispute between employer and union (t/f)

false

in the us, the unemployment insurance system in most states is generally designed to replace approximately what percentage of the unemployed person's previous earnings?

50%

suppose that the labor force participation of married males is 70% and their unemployment rate is 20%, then their employment rate is:

56%

The census bureau reports income for households and for families. What's the difference?

A family household includes two or more persons related by birth, adoption, or marriage.

Harvard economist, Gregory Mankiw, and princeton economist, alan blinder are in complete agreement on the subject of offshore outsourcing. (t/f)

false

An increase in his or her expected career length will make a worker:

More likely to change jobs

The ____________ Act established the National Labor Relations Board and required employers to bargain with unions representing the majority of their employees.

National Labor Relations

in one hour, mr x can produce 50 cans of tuna or 100 bags of potato chips. In one hour, mr y can produce 20 cans of tuna or 30 bags of potato chips. mr ______ has the lower opportunity cost of producing cans of tuna and mr ____ has the lower opportunity cost of producing bags of potato chips.

Y, X

experience rating is:

assigning a higher UI tax to employers who lay off workers frequently

when canada and the us moved to reduce tariffs, which of the following occurred? -canadian workers displaced by US trade found it difficult finding new jobs, canadas overall employment rate fell, employment fell in the canadian industries most directly competing with imports from the united states, all of the above

employment fell in the canadian industries most directly competing with imports from the us

Assume the demand for high tech goods is perfectly inelastic. If workers producing high tech goods become more productive, then these workers employement will ________ and their wages will __________.

fall, fall

lana is a freelance computer consultant who earns $300 per day for her services. Larry is a handyman who could earn $15 per hour at the local hardware store. Lana needs her house painted. She can paint the house in 5 days. larry could paint lana's house in 3 days time (8 hrs a day), in this case lana has a comparative advantage in painting her own house. (t/f)

false

other factors held constant, middle aged workers (age 35-44) are more likely to migrate than workers in other age categories (t/f)

false; younger?

a worker who has quit one job to have time to search for a similar position is counted as what type of unemployment -cyclical, frictional, regional, occupational

frictional

Employee benefits and the share of compensation that goes to benefits are usually

higher in unionized than in nonunionized firms

unionization rates in the united states are highest

in the government sector

the broadest measure of unemployment is by the bureau of labor statistics is U6 which

includes persons marginally attached to the labor force plus those employed part time for economic reasons

income published by the us census bureau in this report includes all of the following except - income from capital gains, social security payments, wages and salaries, child support and alimony payments

income from capital gains

In a competitive industry, it takes a fixed ratio of one skilled worker and two unskilled workers to produce a unit of output. If the immigration of unskilled workers lowers the wage of unskilled workers, it will likely - increase the demand for skilled workers due to the scale effect, decrease the wage but increase the employment of domestic unskilled workers, increase the demand for skilled workers due to the substitution effect, all of the above

increase the demand for skilled workers due to the scale effect

threat effects are

increases in non-union wages from threats to unionize

occupational discrimination

is keeping one group in lower-paying jobs although their potential productivity is equal to that of those who have access to higher-paying jobs

Many college professors have tenure, which makes it very hard to fire them. What is the effect of tenure on the academic job market? - it reduces the job mobility of tenured professors, it increases the professors willingness to invest in teaching, it makes it more likely that professors will be matched to institutions they teach, it makes it more likely the wages of tenured professors will reflect their productivity

it reduces the job mobility of tenured professors

A nation is more productive when -workers stay in their current job, more jobs are needed to produce any given level of output, consumers cannot change which goods they buy when this results in the loss of some jobs, it takes fewer jobs and resources to produce a given amount of goods.

it takes fewer jobs and resources to produce a given amount of goods

which of the following household types had the highest real median income in 2017? - non-family households, married couple households, households maintained by women (no husband present), households maintained by men (no wife present)

married couple households

studies using local labor markets as units of observation estimate that the effects of immigration on native-born wages and employment are ____________. this could be because:

minimal, immigrates choose to locate in areas where demand is expanding

section 14B of the taft-hartley act:

permitted individual states to pass "right to work" laws

A construction worker who is not working due to a snow storm would be counted as _________ unemployed -cyclically, frictionally, structurally, seasonally

seasonally

in the asymmetric-information model of strike activity, employers who provide better information about their profitability to their employees

should see a decrease in both frequency and duration of strikes

A worker who is laid off because his or her company chooses to move from wisconsin to north carolina is counted as _______ unemployment - structural, cyclical, frictional, wait

structural

All of the output of industry X is made in America. Suppose now that a foreign nation's workers can produce at least part of industry X's good at a lower wage. The reduction in American jobs in industry X will be smaller when -american workers (while getting a wage twice that of foreigners) are 50% more productive, the elasticity of supply of american workers is more inelastice, the supply of labor is highly elastic, american workers are excellent substitutes for foreign workers

the elasticity of supply of american workers is more inelastic

mr X works in the warehouse of a large textile firm located in the united states. The firm outsources the production of its textiles to another nation. Which of the following is an example of possible scale effect of this event on mr x? - the outsourcing of production causes the firm to reduce the company's demand for warehouse workers in the us and increase its demand for warehouse workers in the other nation, the lower price of textiles causes his firm to sell more textiles increasing its demand for warehouse workers, both of these, neither of these

the lower price of textiles causes his firm to sell more textiles increasing its demand for warehouse workers

a prospective worker's reservation wage refers to:

the lowest wage he or she would accept to take a job

Mr. X works in the warehouse of a large textile firm located in the United States. The firm outsources the production of its textiles to another nation. Which of the following is an example of the possible substitution effect of this event on Mr. X? -- the outsourcing of production causes the firm to reduce the company's demand for warehouse workers in the us and increase its demand for warehouse workers in the other nation, the lower price of textiles causes his firm to sell more textiles increasing its demand for warehouse workers, both of these, neither of these

the outsourcing of production causes the firm to reduce the company's demand for warehouse workers in the us and increase its demand for warehouse workers in the other nation,

The unemployment rate tells us

the percentage of the labor force that is not working

the wages of workers displaced by international trade will fall less when -the substitution effect is larger, workers are close substitutes with foreign workers, the scale effect is larger, unemployment benefits are made less generous

the scale effect is larger

many unions have favored import quotas and tariffs because

they want to shift demand towards the goods they produce

Quit rates tend to increase with firm size (t/f)

true

Research shows that a 10 percent increase in a regions unemployment rate is associated with a reduced wage level of between 0.4 and 1.9 percent (t/f)

true

income published by the us census bureau does not include the value of "in-kind" benefits (t/f)

true

of the countries listed in table 13.1 in your text, the one with the lowest rate of union membership is the united states (t/f)

true

Between 1990 and 2010, which group did NOT experience growth within their share of the civilian labor force? - women, hispanics, whites, asians

whites