Goal
The purpose of this assignment is to learn how to retrieve unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website and to evaluate the US economy using this data.
Post
The employment and unemployment data is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
PART A:
To find the official (U-3) unemployment data:
Please go to bls.gov
Select Economic Releases Tab
Click on Employment and Unemployment Monthly
Click on Employment Situation (HTML) under Monthly data
Click on Employment Situation Summary Table A, seasonally adjusted (second item in table of contents)
Please answer the following questions:
What is the unemployment rate in May 2021. (The June data will be published on 7/2). See the economic indicators calendar:
Link Is Attached
How did the unemployment rate change in the past three months and since last year the same period?
How did the civilian labor force change since last year the same period? What is civilian labor force and what is the reason do you think for this change?
How did participation rate change since last year the same period? What is participation rate and what is the reason do you think for this change?
Since the unemployment rate is the number of unemployed in the civilian labor force, can you calculate the current unemployment rate using the data in the table. Compare it with the unemployment rate given in the table. Did you get it right?
Please check the unemployment rates for different gender, race, age group, education level and let us know what strikes you the most.
Please check the reasons for unemployment and duration of unemployment data, what does that tell you about the economic situation in general?
How did the ‘discouraged workers’ data change since last year the same period? What is discouraged worker? What does this data tell you about the economic situation in general?
How did the part time workers for economic reasons data (including ‘slack work or business conditions’ and ‘could find only part time work’ change since last year the same period?) What does this data tell you about the economic situation in general?
The unemployment rate is a lagging indicator. Do you agree that the unemployment data tells us about the economic situation in general?
Note: This is an activity rather than a discussion, but this activity will allow you to evaluate the employment data, which is one of the economic indicators we use to evaluate the overall economy. We will use this data, along with other economic indicators when we discuss the fiscal and monetary policy implemented in the US later during the semester.
PART B:
The official unemployment rate published by the BLS is called U-3 unemployment rate and it excludes underemployed workers (part-time workers) and marginally attached to the labor force workers (discouraged workers). The BLS also calculates a broader unemployment rate, which is called U-6. This unemployment rate includes part-time workers as well as discouraged workers and it is about double the official U-3 unemployment rate.
Please read What is the Real Unemployment Rate
(Links to an external site.)
and explain the critics of the official (U-3) unemployment rate.
Additional Resources Links are Attached!!!
Unemployment Concepts and Definitions
(Links to an external site.)
Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization Table
(Links to an external site.)
Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization Chart
(Links to an external site.)
Reply to a discussion post from a classmate.
All the links are Attached
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