Question

1. Illustrate how unemployment is measured. In your discussion, define the labor force and what portion(s) of society are not included as part of the labor force.

Answer 1

Labor force refers to all those people 16 years and older who are employed and unemployed. Employed refers to all those working and self-employed workers whereas unemployed are those who are not currently in a job but are available for a job. This includes new entrants or re-entrants, people who either quit or lost the last job, and also those who were laid off. The people not included in the labor force are students, retired personnel, disabled or household workers, and discouraged workers as these individuals are not actively looking for a job.

Unemployment rate =Unemployed /Labor force *100

Labor force = Employed +unemployed

Unemployed are - 16 years and older, have been actively looking for work and available for work for the past 4 weeks

For Instance US employment statistics for December 2018

Total labor force =163240

Employed =156945

Unemployed =6294

Unemployment rate =6294/163240=3.9%