Font size
WorksheetsCalculating Unemployment Practice
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 12mins
A nation’s unemployment rate is the ratio of the number of unemployed seeking employment divided by the nation’s
labor force
potential gross domestic product
number of employed
working-age population
total population
Why is the unemployment rate an imperfect measure of joblessness?
It includes workers who are on strike.
It counts discouraged workers.
It excludes the frictionally unemployed.
To count an individual has to be actively looking for work.
It overestimates the number of individuals who are self-employed.
Which of the following best describes an economy at full employment?
The rate of unemployment is zero.
There is only structural and cyclical unemployment.
There is only cyclical unemployment.
There is cyclical, but not structural, unemployment.
There is frictional & structural unemployment, but not cyclical, unemployment.
The table above gives population and labor-market data for an economy. The unemployment rate in this economy is
3.3%
5%
10%
33.3%
50%
Which of the following will be counted as unemployed by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics?
Persons who quit their previous jobs to stay at home to care for sick parents
Persons who were laid off from their previous jobs and have not applied for a job in two years
Persons who were fired from their previous jobs and are actively applying for work
Persons who have given up looking for jobs after long searches
Persons who quit their previous jobs to start their own businesses
Which of the following individuals is classified as unemployed?
A fifteen-year-old high school student who is looking for a babysitting job
A laid-off computer programmer who has given up looking for a new job
A parent who works in an after-school day care center for 15 hours a week
A recent college graduate who is looking for her first job
A mayor who lost an election and retired
An increase in the number of which of the following will lead to an increase in the unemployment rate?
Discouraged workers
Business start-ups
Self-employed persons
Persons working 30 instead of 40 hours per week
Persons quitting part-time jobs to look for full-time ones
The population of Country X is 250,000, and the labor force is 200,000 persons. If 175,000 people are employed, what is the unemployment rate?
10%
12.5%
20%
80%
87.5%
Which type of unemployment would increase if workers lost their jobs because of a recession?
Cyclical
Frictional
Seasonal
Search
Structural
Which of the following groups is not typically included in the unemployment rate?
Workers receiving unemployment compensation
Cyclically unemployed workers
Discouraged workers
Recent college graduates looking for work
What is the nation's labor force?
3 million
9 million
100 million
150 million
91 million
What is the nation's labor force participation rate?
4%
5%
6%
9%
66.66%
What is the nation's natural unemployment rate?
4%
5%
6%
9%
66.7%
What is the nation's actual unemployment rate?
4%
5%
6%
9%
66.7%
If the number of people that are employed is 140 million, the number of people that are unemployed is 20 million, and the civilian, noninstitutional population aged 16 and over is 200 million, then the labor force participation rate is
10.0%
12.5%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
Based on the information in the table above, what is the labor force for Country X?
180
80
94
100
Based on the information in the table above, what is the unemployment rate for Country X?
3.3%
4.0%
6.0%
6.38%
7.5%
How does the unemployment rate affect consumer spending?
Higher unemployment rates lead to increased consumer spending
Higher unemployment rates lead to decreased consumer spending
There is no relationship between unemployment rates and consumer spending
Unemployment rates only affect government spending
Match the following
Unemployment is higher than 5%
Indicates a Recession
Unemployment is 4-5%
Goal/Full Out-put (Equilibrium)
Unemployment is lower than 4%
Indicates an Expansion
Match the following
Unemployed
Lisa lost her job 2 weeks ago
Employed
Ms. Ash works from August to June
Not counted
Steve stays home with his baby
