Question

Suppose you are a member of the Labour Force Survey Team and you have collected the following information: There were 8500 people in the families surveyed by you, 1000 of them children and teenagers under 15, and 500 retired, 3700 people had full-time jobs, and 1400 had part-time jobs. There were 700 full-time homemakers, 500 full-time students aged 15 and over who were not looking for work. The remaining 700 people did not have jobs but all said they would like to have one; 100 of these 700 people had not looked actively for work for several months, however.

a) Calculate the number of people in the labour force

b) Calculate the labour force participation rate

c) Calculate the employment rate

Answer 1

a ) Ans: The number of people in the labor force is 5700

Explanation:

Labor force = Total number of people employed + Total number of people unemployed

= ( 3700 + 1400 ) + 600 = 5100 + 600 = 5700

Following number of people are not considered in the labor force ;

• children and teenagers under 15 = 1000
• retired = 500
• full-time homemakers = 700
• full-time students aged 15 and over who were not looking for work = 500
• people had not looked actively for work for several months =100

b) Ans:  Labour force participation rate is 98.27%

Explanation:

Civilian non-institutional population does not include students, retired people, homemakers, and those under age of 16 .

Civilian non-institutional population =8500 - ( 1000 + 500 + 700 + 500) = 8500 - 2700 = 5800

Labour force participation rate = Labor force / total civilian non-institutional population

= (5700 / 5800 ) * 100 = 0.9827 * 100 = 98.27%

c ) Ans: Employment rate is 89.47%

Explanation:

Employment rate = (Total number of people employed / Labor force ) * 100

= (5100 / 5700 ) * 100 = 0.8947 * 100 = 89.47%