Question

Under the U.S. government’s method of counting persons, a person who is a student and does not work is considered out of

the labor force. Conceptually, persons who are out of the labor force are supposed to be unwilling to work regardless of the wage offered to them.

i.) Based on the observation above (that graduate/professional school enrollments increase during recessions), do you think that graduate students are really unwilling to work regardless of the wages that might be offered to them?

ii.) Explain why it would be at least somewhat misleading to count graduate/professional students as either employed or unemployed.

iii.) If you were particularly interested in the labor market for young college graduates, what category would you put them in—one of those above or something else? Why? (There is no “right” answer to this, but the question will help you understand the choices faced by people who collect and analyze employment data.)

Answer 1