DISCUSSION Forum

This video mainly focuses on the U3 Unemployment Rate, but it also shows the influence of labor force participation on the U3 rate. While not specifically noting the U6 rate, it does refer to other rates that provide a more accurate picture, that is a reference to the U6 rate.

Note: The video has Closed Captioning. To activate it, start the video, mouse over the bottom of the video and click on the CC icon, then select from the menu.

This week we are going to look into the labor market in some depth. We shall be examining unemployment as well as the labor force participation rate.

This week you will examine the U3 unemployment rate (often called the Headline Rate because it is the one most often reported by the media) and the U6 unemployment rate (a more inclusive measure of unemployment) in detail. This activity will give you a deeper understanding of the different unemployment measures available to analyze what is occurring in the national labor market.

Assignment Summary:

1) Watch the above video and videos 1 and 2 under the Week 3 YouTube video link;

2) Read the article in the textbook: "Why Has Employment Declined?" from Chapter 28, page 596-597 (Week 3 article.pdf);

3) Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://bls.gov) and find the current:

a) labor force participation rate
b) the U3 (Headline) unemployment rate, and,
c) the U6 unemployment rate;

4) What are the differences between the U3 and U6 unemployment rates? Note not only the unemployment rate percentages, but also who is counted in each of the two measures.

5) After examining the information and views found in the above activities, what factors are contributing to the current unemployment rate and the current labor participation rate? Support your view with data from the BLS, information from the readings and the videos and concepts from the textbook readings (chapters 28 - 31).

6) Post your views to the discussion board and refer to at least two different concepts from this week's Chapters. Your illustration of concepts MUST include an explanation why you think they are relevant to the week's topic using specific information from the articles, videos and other research that you have done.

MAKE SURE THAT YOU ADD SOMETHING NEW to the discussion.

7) Post on three different days for a minimum of three posts. Failure to meet these minimum posting requirements results in point loss.
Include a word count on each post. All of your posts should sum to a minimum of 500 words.

Each post submitted should be between 150 and 250 words. Keep them short, specific, and clear.

Use paragraphs as appropriate.

Very lengthy posts do not provide an incentive to be read.

Remember to document all use of sources by using citations and references. These should be in APA format.

Please review Plagiarism Powerpoints (PLAGIARISM.ppt) and be sure to provide references (APA.ppt), including URLs where appropriate, to all works that you cite.

Be sure to respond to comments or questions from your instructor. If you do not respond to the posts sent by your instructor, your grade will be significantly affected.

You can start a new thread by clicking on the Create Thread button at the top. You can also respond to an existing post by clicking the Respond button at the bottom of the post.

Alisa Walizer

Discussion 1

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Unemployment is defined as a category of individuals who are not employed, have tried to find employment during the previous four weeks, or those waiting to be recalled for a job that he or she was recently laid off (Mankiw, 2015, pp. 587). The labor force is recognized as the sum of individuals who are either employed or unemployed, thus producing a percentage out of the adult population. This percentage is also known as the labor-force participation rate. The unemployment rate can be divided into alternate measures categorized by U1 through U6. U3 unemployment rate is more specifically categorized as the official unemployment rate, which occurs when people are without jobs or have looked for employment within the past four weeks. U3 rate recorded for July 2016 measured 4.9% for the United Sates. U6 unemployment rate can include individuals who are able to work, but have not looked recently, or part-time workers who cannot work full time due to economic reasons. U6 rate recorded for July 2016 measured 9.7% for the United States (Wikipedia, 2016), (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016).

Even if a countries economy is doing well, there will always be individuals without jobs. The unemployment rate will continue to be existent due to a variety of reasons labor markets fall from full time employment. Some of the main factors that contribute to current unemployment rates and current labor participation rates include; the increased time it takes for workers to search for jobs, insufficiency in labor markets to give jobs, minimum-wage laws, and market power of unions (Mankiw, 2015, pp. 592-596). Unemployment may not be able to be completely avoided, however a nations approach to the situation can largely influence these measured numbers discussed.

wc: 298

References:

Unemployment. (2016, July 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. August 8, 2016.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=unemployment&oldid=731934950

United States Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economic News Release (Table A-15). August 05, 2016.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htms

N. Gregory Mankiw (2015). Principles of Economics, (Seventh Edition). Stamford, CT. Cengage Learning.

Jennifer Castro

Discussion 2

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Individuals that are not employed have not been able to find a job within four weeks, or as well as individuals that are waiting to be called for a job offer, would be categorized as unemployment. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics determine employment and unemployment for individuals over the age of 16 as well as labor force. U3 and U6 are very much different. U3 unemployment rate is the formally recognized rate of unemployment, measuring the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the labor force. Unless or else stated, all generic references to the employment rate in government communications and in the media refer to U3 unemployment. U6 on the other hand is unemployment rate includes all of these cases. Therefore, the U6 rate is much truer to a natural, non-technical understanding of what it means to be unemployed. By capturing disheartened workers, underemployed workers and other folks who exist on the margins of the manual labor market, the U6 rate provides a broad picture of the under utilization of labor in the country. In this sense, the U6 rate is the true unemployment rate. There are many factors, but some of the main factors that add to current unemployment rates as well as current labor contribution rates include; the improved time it takes for workers to search for jobs, insufficiency in labor markets to give jobs, minimum-wage laws, and market power of unions (Mankiw, 2015, pp. 592-596).

Word count: 241

Reference:

Unemployment. (2016, July 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. August 8, 2016.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=unemployment&oldid=731934950

United States Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economic News Release (Table A-15). August 05, 2016.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htms

N. Gregory Mankiw (2015). Principles of Economics, (Seventh Edition). Stamford, CT. Cengage Learning.