UK Economic Policies

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.

Actually, the unemployment rate is one of the most crucial macroeconomic indicators of the country. The unemployment rate has different definitions, varying from country to country. The official definition of the unemployment, according to the International Labor Organization, is the amount of people that want and ready to work and seeking for the job, and the unemployment rate, accordingly, is the percentage of unemployed in the total labor force (Reuters Financial Glossary). The unemployment rate is crucial for the economy in general, because the higher labor force involved in production, the higher amounts of goods and services a country might produce, in other words employment

The increase was lower than previous years. A few of the areas that helped increase the growth was real estate, fishing, and forestry. (Pettinger, 20130 The unemployment keeps going down, but the numbers are nowhere where they should be. The unemployment rate was seven point four percent. Things are starting to look better for the economy in the United States.

Obviously unemployed rate is defined as “the fraction of the labor force that is unemployed” . To define the unemployed is important as well, because it refers to those that have no job, but are actively looking for work, not to those who are not working and are uninterested in searching or getting a job . The reason that unemployment is so important in determining the economy’s success is because it is intertwined with the gross domestic product, as in when the gross domestic product falls, unemployment is increased, and when it rises, there is a decrease in unemployment . To make what is being explained clearer, when there is unemployment, production is down; therefore there is less money and goods produced out of the economy. This is how unemployment relates as well.

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

All of those decreasing or increasing rate are calculated by the US economy officially, and the official rate calculated seems to decrease constantly, that it is said to be below 5%. However, there are excessive doubts from the people with the low rate of unemployment. There are several reasons for the suspicions. First of all, the participation rate has fallen. “The participation rate has fallen since the recession, likely due to demographic shifts like baby boomers retiring” (Wells). The participation rate, which is the measurements of the people who are employed or looking for a job, has decreased. This explains that declining unemployment rate is suspicious. Second, the parsing labor statistics. There are 6 measures of unemployment rate,

The official measure of unemployment is the U-3 index which is the percentage of the labor face unemployed for fifteen weeks or longer. Because this indicator can only confirm the long-term trend of unemployment it is considered a lagging indicator. In the most recent U-3 report, the unemployment rate held steady at 5%. This figure is close to what is considered full employment by economists (4.7% unemployment), and consequently bodes well for the overall economy. Moreover, since the last economic downturn, the Great Recession, the unemployment rate has consistently declined (from a peak of 10% in November 2009), indicating that the US economy is growing and that more Americans are able to sustain themselves and thus pump more money back into the economy with their expenditures. Therefore, the current unemployment figure is indicative of the strong state of the

The United States has been experiencing the lowest rates of unemployment it has seen in several years. A person is considered unemployed if he/she is of working age and is actively looking for a job but cannot find one. An unemployment rate is found by dividing the number of workers that are unemployed by the number of people in the labor force and then multiplying this number by 100%. A labor force can be defined as all the people in a country who are able to work, whether they have a job or not. There is a “natural” rate of unemployment which indicates that there is no way to get the country at a 0% unemployment rate because of scenarios such as people who can’t find jobs because of a lack of information, people who do not have the motivation

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.

Inflation is an increase in price levels within an economy. Basically it means that you will have to pay more for the same goods. Unemployment is even more straightforward. It means that a person is available for employment but is unable to find employment. Lastly, the unemployment rate, which is the percentage of potential workers that are unemployed, is used to measure unemployment (Mankiw 1992).

10. Unemployment rates: The unemployment rate is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment and it is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by all individuals currently in the labor force.

Discuss how far recent UK economic policy has been successful in achieving the macroeconomic objectives.

In this essay I will be examining how the financial crisis in 2008 caused the UK government to change their aims and policies to aid recovery. I will be looking to both monetary and fiscal policies and weighing up how effective the Coalition have been in improving the British economy. I will be comparing the aims and policies to those of other countries and evaluating what has restricted the UK economy from growing.

A political issue that the United Kingdom is currently facing is the increase of unemployment which is positively helping the economy, as a result. The number of citizens not working in the UK decreased by 63,000 to 2.33 million in only three months to January 2014, according to official figures. (BBC) This is clearly a significant current event in UK at the moment because 7.2% of their population is without a job. The unemployment rate in Scotland fell to 6.9%, in Wales it was 6.7% while in Northern Ireland it was 7.5%. (BBC) Interestingly, I found that the Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "Another significant fall in unemployment is a sign our long-term economic plan is working, providing security and chances for hard-working people."(BBC) In other words, the rising rate of unemployment is not necessarily a clear indicator of a shattered economy. A large portion of the “unemployed” are self-employed businessmen or entrepreneurs working on their own ventures and have found new ways of producing a steady income within the British economy. Ultimately, the economic history and politics of this nation have been originated by Parliament and are the primary cause for the rapid growth in the business market right now.

According to information found on worldbank.org, unemployment refers to “the share of labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment” (n.d). From personal experience, it’s not easy to find a job, especially one that is enjoyable and at the same time one you can make a good living out of. Unemployment is not a recent or modern issue and has affected every single person on earth in one way or another. Seems like rates have increased more than ever, could it be because we now have the technology that enables us to measure and track the amount of people that are unemployed or that are in search of employment? Or perhaps the world