Short Answer Questions:
1. In the Labour Force Survey (LFS), someone who only works as little as one hour per week is defined as employed. What implication does this have for the accuracy of the unemployment rate statistic as a measure of true unemployment?Explain your answer.
2. What may be the reasons for paying 'efficiency wages' and what effects should it have on firms and workers?
3. Consider the following labour market data and compute the followings (where relevant, show it to two decimal points).
|
Adult Population
|
100
|
|
Not in Labour Force
|
20
|
|
Unemployed
|
15
|
|
Employed
|
65
|
i) Calculate the labour force.
ii) Calculate the percentage of people not in the labour force.
iii) Calculate the rate of unemployment.
iv) Calculate the labour force participation rate.
4. Do you agree with the following statement?Explain your answer:
'The participation rate usually increases during recessions such as the global financial crisis in 2008. This is because the probability of finding a (better paid) job decreases'.
5. Go to www.gapminder.org/world. In the graph shown for Y (vertical) axis select: "Child mortality (0-5 years dying per 1,000 born)" and for X (horizontal) axis select "time". From a list of the countries on the right-hand side bar, select Singapore, Sweden, and Venezuela. Then, Adjust time slideron the bottom to year 1880, and then press play (no need to copy the graph here, but if you can past it here, that's great!):
a. Describe the data you observe, contrasting the outcomes in the three countries.
b. Try to provide brief explanations for these outcomes.
c. What is your prediction about how future outcomes will evolve in these countries?
6. Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt.
Look at the table of countries and report any interesting or surprising observations you have made.Your discussion should be more than half a page in length.