Question

In 2011 when the U.S. unemployment rate was over 9%, President Barack Obama said, “There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot few workers. You see it when you to to a bank and you use an ATM, you don’t go to a bank teller, or you go to the airport and you’re using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate.” Discuss the president’s quote in terms of both short-run unemployment and long term growth.

Answer 1

by this quote the president meant that in short term there will be unemployement due to technologies that are coming up and giving more easier work without much of workers. so in today's era of globalization every company wants to have new technology instead of hiring people for their job. but this is directly related to technological growth theory of labour market where in long term there will be growth and good number of people employed when they will be trained on new technologies and have better skills than before. this would enhance the quality of workers and induce growth in long term.