Fuerza laboral e inflacion

Monitoring Jobs and inflation

1. What determines whether a person is in the labor force?
Workers who have a job and workers who are unemployed are in the labor force. To be “officially” counted as unemployed, and thus in the labor force, means that the person does not have a job but is available and willing to work and has made some effort to find work within the past four weeks, or waitingto be called back to a job from which he or she has been laid off, or waiting to start a new job within 30 days.
2. What distinguishes an unemployed person from a person who is not in the labor force?
A general definition of unemployment is a person who wants to work but does not have a job. A person who is not in the labor force does not have a job and does not want one. More specifically to beconsidered as unemployed, and thus in the labor force, the person must not have a job but must be available and willing to work. The person must also have made some effort to find work within the past four weeks, or be waiting to be called back to a job from which he or she has been laid off, or be waiting to start a new job within 30 days.
3. Describe the trends and fluctuations in the U.S.unemployment rate between 1960 and 2008.
The unemployment rate had an upward trend during the 1970s and a general downward trend since then. However there have been significant fluctuations around these trends with particularly high unemployment rates around 1982 and particularly low unemployment rates in the late 1960s and around 2000.
4. Describe the trends and fluctuations in the U.S.employment-to-population ratio and the labor force participation rate between 1960 and 2008.
The labor force participation rate and the employment-to-population ratio had an upward trend from about 1965 until about 2001 and since then have essentially leveled off. Recently the labor force participation rate has been near 66 percent and the employment-to- population ratio has been near 62 percent. Both showfluctuations around these trends, especially the employment-to-population ratio with rises during expansions and falls during recessions.

1. What is the unemployment rate supposed to measure and why is it an imperfect measure?
Ideally the unemployment rate would measure the underutilization of labor resources. But it is an imperfect measure for two reasons. First the unemployment rate does notinclude some underutilized labor. In particular the unemployment rate completely omits marginally attached workers, such as discouraged workers. These workers are not included in the unemployment rate. Second the unemployment rate counts as fully employed workers who are working part time but who want full-time jobs. These workers are underutilized because they would like to work for more hoursthan is presently the case.
2. Why might the official unemployment rate underestimate the underutilization of labor resources?
The official unemployment rate underestimates the underutilization of labor resources for two reasons. First the official unemployment rate completely omits some underutilized labor. In particular the unemployment omits marginally attached workers, such as discouragedworkers. These workers are not included in the unemployment rate because they are not searching for a job, though if the labor market was better and jobs more plentiful they would reenter the labor market. Marginally attached workers are not a major source of mismeasurement because they are a small subset of people. Second the unemployment rate counts as fully employed workers who are working parttime but who want full time jobs. These workers are underutilized because they would like to work for more hours than is presently the case. These workers are a significantly more substantial source of error because they account for a much larger part of the labor force.
3. Why does unemployment arise and what makes some unemployment unavoidable?
People become unemployed for three reasons:...