1. How is unemployment measured?
The BLS takes data from 60000 households and figures out Emplyed Unemplyed and Not in labor force numbers.
2. How do you calculate unemployment, please give a sample calculation.
Unemployment rate = (Number of unemployed / Labor force) * 100
Example= In the year 2000, 300 people were employed, and 86 were unemployed. This means that the labor force was 386. So the unemployment rate was (86/386)x100=22.2%
3. Define the four types of unemployment. 1) Frictional unemployment - includes people who are temporary between jobs
2) Cyclical unemployment - rises in recession, workers are laid offf because the economy is bad
3)Structural unemployment - includes people who lack skills or have a poor education
4) Seasonal unemployment - affects people who have worked during the past year but are unemployed during other parts of the yeardue to changes in the weather
4. Give an example for each type of unemployment.
Frictional unemployment: An unemployed college senior is looking for her first job
Cyclical unemployment: A steelworker is laid off because of a long recession
Structural unemployment: An unemployed auto worker has been replaced by a robot
Seasonal unemployment: A Wisconsin construction worker cannot find work in the winter
5. What has happened to the size of the labor force in the past several decades? Why has this happened?

6. How accurate is the unemployment rate?
It is quite accurate but not perfect, because it is hard to determine when someone is in or out of the work force and so many who really left the work force will be counted as unemployed while people entering may also be confused as not in fact in the work force and not counted as unemployed.
7. Define discouraged and underemployed workers.
Discouraged: Would like to have work but have given up looking for a job
Underemployed: Have a job part time, or lower than the skills they have (i.e. a college graduate working at McDonald's)

8. Why are there always some people unemployed?
Some people will always be unemployed if they are in a transition between jobs as seen in frictional unemployment. other people can be temporarily unemplyed if they work only during certain seasons of the year as seen in seasonal unemployment.
9. Why is some frictional unemployment unavoidable?

• People are "frictional unemployed" if they are moving and looking for a new job, looking for a job after graduating from college, quitting their job and looking for a new one, etc.
• people are always bound to be "unemployed" at some point in their lives
• The down time between jobs to search for something that fits their tastes, skills and education background

10. What is unemployment insurance and how does it work?
Unemployment insurance = a govt. program that partially protects worker's incomes when they become unemployed
11. Explain the issue of unemployment in Germany.

12. How are minimum wage laws related to unemployment?
Even though minimum wage laws can cause unemployment because of a surplus of workers, it does not contribute extensively to unemployment. the majority of the work force makes wages well above the minimum wage because of their skills and education. the usually smaller percentage of those workers making minimum wage therefore only contribute partially to unemployment. The type of structural unemployment created by higher minimum wages is simply due to the fact that the wage is above the equilibrium wage, which causes a surplus of laber and a decrease in the availability of jobs

13. Are unions good or bad for the economy?
There is no consensus among economists whether unions are good or bad for the economy. Their influence is beneficial in some circumstances (they are important for helping firms respond efficiently to worker's concerns), and adverse in others (when unions raise wages above the level that would prevail in competitive markets, they reduce the quantity of laber demanded and increase unemployment).