Economic Performance Paper

This article is related to macroeconomic which examines how the economy functions and its performance. Unemployment as a whole is related to macroeconomics. There are many reasons as to why a person could be unemployed. He or she could be retrenched, fired or still be looking for a job. However, if

The largest cause of unemployment can be attributed to recession. The term recession refers to the backward movement of the economy for a long period. People spend only when they have to. (Nagle 2009). With people spending less there would be less money in circulation therefore, enterprises would suffer financially and people would suffer too. This is so because recession reduces the fiscal bases of enterprises, forcing these enterprises to reduce their workforce through layoffs. These enterprises lay off their workers in order to cut the costs they incur in terms of wage and salary payments.

There are three different kinds of unemployment that affect our economy: frictional, cyclical and structural. Frictional unemployment occurs when there is a time laps between being employed and looking for work. This term can also be referred to as search employment because it is the time spent searching for a place of employment. One example of this would be a student taking time off of work to finish college and get a 4 year degree. Usually, it takes a lot of time and dedication to finish the last years of school, so some students tend to go to school full time and work part time or not at all. This type of unemployment is also classified as voluntary unemployment because this period of unemployment is at the discretion of the person to some small degree. Secondly, there is cyclical unemployment which changes depending on the business need; for example, workers are laid off when business is bad - then

The first to be discussed is the discount rate is the interest rate charged by the Federal Reserve to banks for short term loan basis. The increase and decrease of the money supply is determined by the discount rate. Discount rate would be used is a bank needed twenty million dollars, the money would be borrowed from the United States treasury but has to be paid back at a interest rate of three percent. This monetary tool would be used with inflation if the expected inflation increases so will the discount rate and vice versus at the same rate remaining equivalent. During periods of time with high unemployment rate the discount rate is lowered in order to counteract high unemployment and to prevent the possibility of a recession. Secondly, there is the ratio reserve. Ratio reserve is the amount of money that has to be kept at a bank on reserve; this amount can be adjusted to back outstanding deposits. Ration reserve creates the marginal money supply at any given moment due to the Fed raising or lowering the reserve requirements. Although it is rarely used to control the money supply it is a tool that can be used. An example of how it would be used would be if Will comes in and deposit one thousand dollars and the reserve amount is ten percent, of that one thousand dollars one hundred will go to the reserve ratio. Allowing the other ninety percent to be used as a money supply for loans and etc. In the case of unemployment and high inflation the Fed has to lower the reserve ratio in order to decrease the unemployment rate and inflation because if the reserve ratio is lower then the economy and the money supply is moving more vividly. Lastly is the open market operations. Open market operations is the act of buying and selling Treasury securities’ between the Fed and certain selected banks in the open market, it is directed by the FOMC. Open market operations would be considered

One form of direct control can be exercised by adjusting the legal reserve ratio (the proportion of its deposits that a member bank must hold in its reserve account), and as a result, increasing or decreasing the amount of new loans that the commercial banks can make. Because loans give rise to new deposits, the possible money supply is, in this way, expanded or reduced. This policy tool has not been used too much in recent years. The money supply may also be influenced through manipulation of the discount rate, which is the rate if interest charged by the Federal Reserve banks on short-term secured loans to member banks. Since these loans are typically sought to maintain reserves at their required level, an increase in the cost of such loans has an effect similar to that of increasing the reserve requirement. The classic method of indirect control is through open-market operations, first widely used in the 1920s and now used daily to make some adjustment to the market. Federal Reserve bank sales or purchases of securities on the open market tend to reduce or increase the size of commercial bank reserves. When the Federal Reserve sells securities, the purchasers pay for them with checks drawn on their deposits, thereby reducing the reserves of the banks on which the checks are drawn. The three instruments of control explained above have been conceded to be more effective in preventing inflation in times of high economic activity than in bringing about revival from a

Monetary policy consists of specific changes in the money supply to influence interest rates which in return adjusts the level of spending in the economy. The goal of the policy is to achieve and maintain price stability, full employment, and economic growth. The regulation of the money supply and interest rates are controlled by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve Board in the U.S., in order to control inflation. Monetary policy is only one of the two ways the government can affect the economy. By altering the effective cost of money, the Federal Reserve can ultimately change the amount of money that is spent by consumers and businesses.

Likewise, the Federal Reserve System performs many responsibilities, including executing the Monetary Policy. The Federal Reserve manages inflation through controlling credit, which is a significant factor affecting money supply. Contractionary monetary policy is utilized when interest rate rises, which causes credit to become more expensive and lessens the money supply. However, when there is not a possibility of an inflation, the Federal Reserve utilizes expansionary monetary policy. This makes credit accessible by lowering interests rate, leading to employment and business

Central banks using contractionary monetary policy have many tools to help reduce inflation. Most commonly it is selling securities and raising interest rates through open market operations. Avoiding a recession and lowering unemployment is undertaken by expansionary momentary policy, interest rates are lowered, securities from member banks are purchased and other ways are used to increase the liquidity. “The Fed uses three main instruments in regulating the money supply: open-market operations, the discount rate, and reserve requirements. The first is by far the most important. By buying or selling government securities (usually bonds), the Fed—or a central bank—affects the money supply and interest rates.”

Unemployment is considered the key indicator of a nation's economy and high unemployment rates will send shock waves through the economy. Unemployed individuals don't have expendable income which translates to a cut back in non-necessary spending which means a loss of sales tax revenue. The fewer individuals with decent paying jobs translate into fewer individuals making investments due to fear of financial security. Nations that are not financially stable creates a financial system with little confidence within the marketplace which will lead to a downturn in stock market value. Unemployed individuals are not paying state and federal taxes but instead sucking money out of the economy. Unemployed people will utilize unemployment insurance which will increase state deficits. Increases in unemployment insurance claims cause states to raise taxes to make up for the lost revenue created from unemployment. 45% of mortgage foreclosures is created by unemployment. Unemployment propels bankruptcy rates and foreclosure rates to rise. High foreclosure rates will lead to home values to fall. The impact of poverty is vast as nations have to raise taxes to absorb the impact which will create an economic spiral which will decrease investment, drive down the stock market value, slow spending due to concerns about financial security which translates to poor economic growth (Hudson,

The Federal Reserve utilizes the open market operations to affect the supply of money by purchasing and selling government securities. When the Fed purchases government securities from the public, the bank reserves will rise, and this will, in turn, increase the supply of money. Under the monetary policy, the Fed influences the supply of money by adjusting the required-reserve ratio. The reserve ratio is the amount banks are required to hold on all deposits; this limits the amount that banks can loan out. Increasing the reserve ratio would limit the amount banks can expand the money supply because the deposit and money multiplier will be smaller.When banks need to borrow from the Federal Reserve they pay an interest rate or a Discount rate. Raising the discount rate discourages banks from borrowing, in turn, lowering the money supply. The Fed will utilize the expansionary monetary policy to increase the supply of money in the market by purchasing securities, lowering

If the economy suffers from inflation, the Government will like to check it. Then its Central Bank should adopt tight or contractionary monetary policy. To control inflation the Central Bank of a country can reduce money supply through open market operations by selling bonds or government securities in the open market and in return gets currency funds from those who buy the bonds. In this way liquidity in the banking system can be reduced.

Firstly Cyclical unemployment or demand deficient unemployment is caused by a lack of spending throughout the economy and generally affects all sectors of the economy because spending is falling. To overcome this, the government needs to introduce policies which seek to boost spending throughout the economy. An example would be a loosening of monetary policy and cutting interest rates which make borrowing for individuals and businesses cheaper. They borrow money which is then spent in the economy which

      Monetary policy is under the control of the Federal Reserve System and is completely discretionary. It is the changes in interest rates and money supply to expand or contract aggregate demand. In a recession, the Fed will lower interest rates and increase the money supply. The Federal Reserve System’s control over the money supply is the key Mechanism of monetary policy. They use 3 monetary policy tools- Reserve Requirements, Discount Rates/Interest Rates, and Open Market Operations. The reserve requirement is the percentage of bank deposits a bank must hold in reserves and cannot loan out. By raising or lowering the reserve requirements, the Fed controls the amount of loanable funds. The interest rate is the amount the FED charges private banks, so they can meet the reserve requirements. The prime rate is currently set at 5%. If the Interest rate is low, the banks will borrow more money from the FED and the money supply will increase. Interest rates have been above average for the past 20 years, but are currently considered low. Open Market Operations is the most effective and most used

Monetary policy, ‘The government’s policy relating to the money supply, bank interest rates, and borrowing’ (Collin: 130), is another tool available to the government to control inflation. Figure 4 shows, that by increasing the interest rate (r), from r1 to r2, the supply of money (ms) is reduced from Q1

According to one article, “Structural unemployment occurs when certain industries decline because of long term changes in market conditions” ("Unemployment types", 2017). More specifically, as Amadeo states, structural unemployment occurs when “Factories move to cheaper locations” (2017) and more efficient options (such as newer technologies, more skilled employees, etc.) are undertaken. Moving on to the minor types, surplus, being the first, is “caused by minimum wage laws, unions and wage/price controls. When wages are set at a high level, unemployment often results” (Amadeo, 2017). The second minor type is demand deficient unemployment. When there is less demand for a particular product, “firms sell less and so reduce production. If they are producing less, this leads to lower demand for workers” (Pettinger, “Demand Deficient Unemployment”, 2017). Therefore, as the name implies, this is caused by an unmet demand when compared to the people in that specific line of work. The third minor, but also major, type is full employment, which is known to be “devoid of cyclical or deficient-demand unemployment” ("Full Employment", 2017), according to one source, and is not simply, as the name suggests, where everyone has a job. In addition, “full employment means that unemployment has fallen to the lowest possible level without provoking inflation” (Palmer, 2016). Regional unemployment is the fourth minor type, being impacted by structural unemployment and,