In: Economics
Questions
In Canada, the natural rate of unemployment is 6 percent, while in the US it is only 4 percent. Explain why there is a difference between these two countries. How does a country determine it’s natural rate of unemployment
Looking on the Statistics Canada Website find the data pertaining to the consumer price index. What is the base year that Stats Can is currently using? Why are they using this year? Are there any plans to change this
The natural rate of unemployment represents the lowest rate of
unemployment however there will be stability in the inflation. The
natural rate of unemployment is computed as frictionally unemployed
(FU) toand structurally unemployed (SU), and dividing this number
by the total labor force. The natural rate of unemployment can
differ across nations due to the varying degrees of union power,
unemployment insurance, collective-bargaining laws, minimum-wage
laws, job-training programs, and other factors that impact the
conditions in labor- market.
There can be two explanations for the higher natural rate of
unemployment in Canada in comparison to U.S. Firstly, the
frictional unemployment will occur when the employees and people
are taking time to searching for the suitable job match. As a
result the frictional unemployment would be higher in Canada that
has large and frequent sectoral shifts and generous compensation on
unemployment. However it does not seems that Canada have greater
sectoral shifts in comparison to U.S. thus the difference in
natural rate of unemployment might be due to more generous
compensation on unemployment in Canada.
The second explanation would be that the rate of wages in few
labour markets is above equilibrium for attracting and retaining
productive employees. The wages above equilibrium in few markets in
Canada because of minimum-wage laws may contribute to unemployment
more in Canada and higher natural rate of unemployment.