ECON 1101 –
Macroeconomics Fall 2014
ASSIGNMENT Current Labor Market Situation
PART I
•
Click on Economic
Releases – Employment and Unemployment
•
Select “Employment
Situation” PDF format
•
Review/Print pages 1 – 8 and answer the following questions.
•
Questions on the Labor Force from the Household Survey: Please
use Seasonally Adjusted data where indicated.
•
What was
the official unemployment rate
reported for October 2014 and the total number of unemployed workers?
•
How many
people worked part-time for economic
reasons (also known as ‘involuntary part time workers’) in Oct. 2014?
•
How many
people were marginally attached to the labor force in Oct. 2014?
•
How many
were discouraged workers?
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How many
people were classified as long term
unemployed – unemployed for 27 weeks or more?
•
Look at the
page of the release that indicates the unemployment rates for each level of educational attainment. Specifically, what were the
unemployment rates in Oct. 2014 for those with less than H.S., with a H.S.
diploma; some college, and a bachelor’s degree or higher)? Indicate by how much
these rates compare with the rates in October 2013.
•
Labor Force Participation Rates
•
Look at the
table that follows the graph. What was the labor
force participation rate in October 2004 and in October 2014? By how much
has this rate changed since Oct.
2004?
•
Questions on Payroll jobs from the Establishment
Survey
Go to the
page of the Employment Situation Summary that provides data on job changes;
look specifically at the last column in the table – October 2014. This column
indicates changes in payroll employment
overall and by industry from the previous month. (You do not need to do any
calculations here)
•
How many
total (seasonally adjusted) payroll jobs were created in Oct. 2014 from
the previous month?
•
How many
jobs specifically were added or lost
in each of the following major industry
categories from October 2013 through October 2014?
•
manufacturing
•
construction
•
professional
and business services
•
financial
activities
•
government
(overall)
•
Education
and health services
•
temporary
help services
•
Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization
Go to http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm (Table
A-15 Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization) and answer the
following questions:
•
Which one
of the six measures of
unemployment indicated in the table (U1 through U6)
represents the official measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics?
•
By how much
did this official
measure change from Oct. 2013 through Oct. 2014?
•
Of all of
the measures in the table - U1 through U6 - which one shows
the greatest decline (use seasonally adjusted data) from Oct. 2013 – Oct. 2014?
•
If
marginally attached workers, discouraged workers, and those who are working
part-time for economic reasons were included in the official unemployment rate,
what would that rate have been for Oct. 2014? Which one of the six measures
reflects this rate?
V. Analysis
of data in the context of current economic conditions
Read the
article that follows, “Explaining the decline in the U.S. labor force
participation rate” by Daniel
Aaronson, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and provide clearly explained
answers to the following questions.
•
What specific
demographic changes led to the increase in the labor force participation rate
from the mid 1960’s through the late 1990’s?
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To what factors
does Aaronson attribute the decline in the nation’s labor force participation
rate since year 2000?
•
What are the
observed and projected changes in the labor force participation rates of male
and female college graduates and male and female high school graduates (pg. 2)?
To what are these trends attributed?
•
What are the labor
force participation rate projections through 2020? What demographic changes does Aaronson
attribute to these projected changes?
Find the full answers here
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