Question

The following is a report from a not-very-efficient BLS survey taker: “There were 100 people in the houses I visited. 24 of them were children under the age of 16, 25 people had full-time jobs, and 12 had part-time jobs. There were 10 retirees, 5 full-time homemakers, 11 full-time students over age 16, and 3 people who were disabled and cannot work. The remaining people did not have jobs, but all said they would like one. Seven of these people had not looked actively for work for three months, however.” Find the labor force, the working-age population, the number of employed workers, and the number of unemployed workers.

Instructions: Enter your responses as integer values.

Labor force:   people.

Working-age population:   people.

Number of employed workers:   people.

Number of unemployed workers:   people.

Answer 1

There were 100 people in the houses I visited. This is the population. 24 of them were children under the age of 16 so they are not a part of labor force. Now the labor force is 100 – 24 = 76.

25 people had full-time jobs so they are considered employed. 12 had part-time jobs so they are a part of labor force. Total employment is 25 + 12 = 37

There were 10 retirees so they are not a part of labor force. The labor force is now 76 – 10 = 66. There are 5 full-time homemakers, 11 full-time students over age 16, and 3 people who were disabled and cannot work, all of these are not in the labor force. The labor force is now 66 – (5 + 11 + 3) = 47.

The remaining 10 people did not have jobs, but all said they would like one. Seven of these people had not looked actively for work for three months. Hence 7 are not a part of labor force. Labor force is therefore 47 – 7 = 40.

A total of 3 people have no jobs and they are unemployed. Hence unemployed workers are 3. Employed workers are 37. Labor force is 40 and working age population is (100 – 24 – 10) = 66.