Unemployment

Who of the following would be classified as employed in the Labour Force Survey?

• Lauren, who just graduated from university and is looking for work
• Greg, who is working 20 hours a week but wants a full-time job
• Craig, who just quit his job to return full-time to university
• Heather, who is unpaid but is working 10 hours a week in the family business.

The participation rate is defined as:

• the proportion of the working age population at work or actively seeking work
• the proportion of people who participated in work for at least one hour during the abour Force Survey week
• the proportion of the civilian population who are either at work or actively seeking work.
• the proportion of the population who participate in the labour force.

Assume the current unemployment rate is 4.5 per cent. This means that:

• 4.5 per cent of the population cannot find work
• 95.5 per cent of the population were in paid work for at least one hour
• 4.5 per cent of people over the age of 15 years cannot find work.
• 4.5 per cent of the labour force are unemployed

If the underutilisation rate is currently 14 percent of the labour force, which of the following alternatives is correct?

• Cyclical unemployment is 8%, with structural unemployment at 6%.
• Taken together, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate is 14%...
• 14% of the population are in paid work, but only for one hour per week.
• The unemployment rate is 14% higher than the estimated natural rate.

Stephanie is a baroque cellist in a world demanding to hear music played on an electric cello. She cannot find suitable employment, so she is:

• cyclically unemployed
• frictionally unemployed
• structurally unemployed.
• voluntarily unemployed.

If the population is 20 million, 10 million are employed and 1 million are unemployed, then the unemployment rate would be:

• 3 per cent
• 9 per cent
• 10 per cent
• 50 per cent

Someone who is available for work but has not actively looked for work in the previous four weeks would be classified as:

• employed
• unemployed
• not in the labour froce
• not in the working-age population

A student who just graduated from university but has not found a job would be:

• frictionally unemployed
• structurally unemployed.
• cyclically unemployed
• seasonally unemployed

If Heather quits her job and immediately begins looking for another, then:

• the unemployment rate increases and the participation rate decreases.
• the unemployment rate increases and the participation rate is unaffected.
• the unemployment rate increases and the participation rate increases.
• the unemployment rate is unaffected and the participation rate increases.

Economists consider full employment to occur when:

• everyone who wants a job has a job
• frictional unemployment equals zero.
• the sum of frictional unemployment and structural unemployment equals zero.
• the unemployment rate consists of only frictional and structural unemployment.