Question

Suppose the civilian noninstitutionalized working-age population is 35.9 million in in a hypothetical economy. Of these, 4.6 million are working part-time and 15.71 million are working full-time. Assume the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) definitions are used for calculating unemployment data. Among those not working, the most recent job-search activity for 3.20 million happened less than two weeks ago, while 1.72 million most recently looked for work between two and four weeks ago. An additional 0.86 million most recently looked for work five weeks ago, and the remaining 9.81 million who do not have jobs have not looked for work in the past six weeks. Round your answers to two decimal places. What is the size of the total labor force? million How many people are unemployed? million What is the labor force participation rate? What is the unemployment rate? OLO

Answer 1

Solution:-

(A). SIze of Total Labor Force:-

Total Labor Force = Employed + Unemployed
Total Labor Force = (4.6 + 15.71) + (3.20 + 1.72)
Total Labor Force = 20.31 + 4.92
Total Labor Force = 25.23

Part-time workers are taken as employed.

(B). Unemployed:-

unemployed are those who are not working but are looking for a job for 4 weeks.

Unemployed = 3.20 + 1.72

= 4.92

(C).  Labor force participation rate:-

Labor force participation rate = Labor force / Total working age population
= 25.23 / 35.9
= 70.27%

(D). Unemployment Rate:-

Unemployment Rate = Unemployed / Labor force
  = 4.92 / 25.23   
= 0.195 * 100
= 19.5%