Kaimeng Xing Analysis on U.S. Unemployment Rate Econ 2002.03H Nov. 9th, 2014 Since the financial crisis in 2008, U.S. unemployment rate has been an issue of importance and public concern. Why? Because the unemployment reflects current economic situation and people’s well-being in general. In this analysis, I will briefly discuss the definition of unemployment and the impact of high and persistent unemployment. Then I will analyze the trend of U.S. unemployment rate of recent months. I will also discuss different theories that explain the current trend of unemployment, some concerns and implications regarding the unemployment rate. Unemployment happens when an individual who actively searches for work but unable to find one. In modern …show more content…
Now it is clear to see why the unemployment rate has been closely monitored all the time, especially at the time of crisis. The unemployment rate, after reaching its peak in October 2009, has been declining slowly but steadily, as U.S firms keep adding more jobs to the market. There was a small increase in unemployment rate in July this year (the Wall Street Journal, Aug 4th, 2014), but the unemployment rate continues to fall in the following months, and finally in this September, it falls to 5.9 percent, the first time it has been below 6 percent since July 2008 before the financial crisis (The Huffington Post, Oct 3rd, 2014). In October, the employment continues to drop, reaching 5.8 percent at the end of the month (BBC, Nov. 2014). Most of people are excited about this falling trend of the unemployment rate, believing that falling unemployment rate is a sign of economic growth for the following reasons. First, according to the Federal Reserve, the natural rate of unemployment in the United States is estimated to be 5.2 percent to 5.5 percent. Natural rate of unemployment is unemployment that is inevitable in modern economy as people change their jobs and industries emerge and fade away. Achieving the natural rate of unemployment is considered as an indicator of a well-functioning, healthy and efficient economy. An unemployment rate that is approaching the natural rate of unemployment provides a strong argument of economic recovery. Second, the textbook
Unemployment is currently measured in the United States by counting those who "do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior four weeks, and are currently available for work" (Leonhardt). This means that a great deal of people are not counted as unemployed because they are discouraged and have not looked for work in the past four weeks. Or, the person was injured in some way and they are "not currently" available for work. This does not mean that the people in either of these groups do not actually wish to find work, but it does mean that they are not counted because of an archaic system that has been used by
A condition that has existed since the beginning of commercialization, unemployment has been in our history since its monumental recognition in 1929. The Great Depression is really when unemployment became a real issue and its highest peaks where between 1932 and early 1933 when the average rate of unemployment was 24.9%. Fast forward almost 80 years and unemployment is still a political issue whose rate has experienced a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows. Unemployment has many forms, but it is technological unemployment, that is a crisis which if declined will lead to an excellent and a benevolent rise to our nation’s economy.
The unemployment rate has dramatically increased over the last several months. This increase has created many complications for the American people. Although the United States economy has created over 7 million jobs, there is still a long way to go until the economy is back on track.
Beginning with unemployment in the 2007-2009 recession, U.S. unemployment rates peaked at 10% as well as held 41 consecutive months at rates higher than eight percent (Lazear 1). The U.S. economy plummeted during this time; many attributed the shift to a large decrease in the number of employed workers. To be able to better understand the unemployment issue, we must first examine the form of unemployment faced by the U.S. economy. Many believe that the changes faced by the U.S. labor market
The Depression was a gruesome time where people had worked relentlessly to survive. Unemployment today is as severe as it was in the 1930s, the unemployment rate of today is nowhere near the unemployment of the Great Depression. A pair of economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas created report called “A Historical Look at the Labor Market During Recessions”. The report is a graph of the WWII Recession, showing that the unemployment rate of a few years ago has past the unemployment rate of the WWII Recession. In 2008 the authors wrote the Unemployment Rate, it’s a report that describes the recessions of the past to the years of 2006 to 2011. The most of the recessions are above or near the average, but the highest recession is the Great Depression.
The unemployment rate averaged 8.5% in 1975, almost 10% in 1982, and has been above 8.8% for more than two years, with little evidence of any improvement ahead.”
The recent job growth is impressive with an increase in 3.4% though the unemployment rate is still at 10% (U.S. average is 5.2%). With this recent increase, there is
While there are expectations of a yearly gain of nearly 2.3 million net new jobs, the unemployment rate is still very high i.e. around 6.5 percent. The lower-than-expected job growth is fueled by various factors including government hiring, weather, and Obamacare. Actually, similar to December, January had a lower-than expected increase in job opportunities since only 113,000 jobs were created. However, the rate of unemployment still reduced to 6.6 percent in this month despite of the growth in labor force. The current rate of unemployment is the lowest in U.S. since the 2008 recession because more people are leaving the labor force instead of finding jobs.
Unemployment is one of the main financial complications in America today. Individuals who are measured as unemployed if the individuals is looking for work or laid off for more than a week. There are numerous diverse details why an individual could be jobless. Three of those causes are cyclical, structural and seasonal unemployment. The administration tries to find answers in order to decrease unemployment by making up guidelines.
Over the last few years GDP, inflation, and unemployment rates have fluctuated. Currently, they seem fairly stable. GDP is at a 2.1% growth rate. The trend hasn’t changed much over time. It seems that the only thing that has really shrunk throughout time with GDP is the amount of exports the US sends out, whereas personal consumption, government spending, and investment added ‘percentage points’ to the growth rate. With the growing GDP, unemployment rate appears to be decreasing. While it is at 4.5%, this is significantly lower than it has been in the past. The growth of GDP has allowed for new investments in technology and being able to find new ways to produce goods and services, thus causing problems with unemployment. Despite the fact
Unemployment mostly occurs when one has lost his/her job and spends quit time looking for a new job. “The U.S. unemployment rate was certainly too high in 1975, and most economists would agree that it is too high today.” ( Lucas Jr, P.257-263). Even though
The United States is currently experiencing a slow recovery from the recession of 2008-09. The current unemployment rate is 7.7%, which is the lowest level since December of 2008 (BLS, 2012). However, this rate is believed to higher than the rate that would occur if the economy was operating at peak efficiency, and it is also believed that there are structural issues still underpinning this performance. For example, the number of Americans who have exited the work force as the result of prolonged unemployment is believed to be higher than usual. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2012) notes that long-term unemployment of greater than 26 weeks is at a much higher rate than normal, which will have adverse long-run effects on the economy, since workers with long-term unemployment often find their career paths derailed.
The unemployment rate in the United States has improved dramatically over the last two years, from a high of 8.3% in July 2012, to a low of 6.6% in January 2014. In October of 2012, the civilian labor force increased from 578,000 to 155.6 million, labor force participation increased up to 63.8%, and total employment overall rose by 410,000! Since then, the unemployment rate has been falling at a stable rate due to a political push from Washington DC and new employment initiatives. The inflation rate over the last 2 years has been relatively stably, with a few major increases and decreases in 2012 and 2013. It reached a high of 2.3% in June of 2012, and reached a low of 1.0% at the end of 2013. The federal interest rate has remained at a constant .25% over the past few years.
Unemployment has always been something that Americans have worried about since the great depression in which one in every four people was unemployed. High unemployment has an impact on every one even those whom are still currently employed. For example if the unemployment rate is particular high then even those with jobs get worried. Unemployment is also separated in to distinct categories base on which group is the focus of the study. The categories can be by race, age or location, for example the unemployment rate of those between the age of sixty and sixty-five could be compared those between the ages of thirty and thirty-five. These categories allow economist to see which groups are the best and which groups are worst off. One group
Money is essential to any individual looking to have a decent lifestyle; labor is the avenue through which this is acquired. The economy goes through various fluctuations in activity causing unemployment to fall, rise, or level out. What this creates is the first type of unemployment, known as cyclical; frictional is the second type, caused by a temporary leave (for whatever reason) by the employee, and structural is the third type, varying with the economic changes in demand. The absence of unemployment at its maximum level is termed full employment, another version of unemployment. The term encompassing the sum of the frictional, structural, and, yet another type of unemployment, surplus unemployment is that of the natural rate of