Chapter 28

Chapter 28 focuses on unemployment. The labor force is made up of two categories, employed and unemployed. People who are not looking for a job are not included in this number. Unemployment rate is the percentage of people in the labor force who are currently unemployed. A country wants the least unemployment rate possible. Whereas the labor force participation rate is the percentage of the adult population that is actually in the labor force. The normal rate of unemployment is the level that unemployment fluctuates. The deviation from this average level is called the cyclical unemployment rate. Many people's actions affect the unemployment rate. Some are unemployed so they can qualify for government financial programs while secretly being paid to remain eligible for them and have reduced taxes. Workers that have given up looking for a job are called discouraged workers. As the years pass, the labor force participation rate is shifting from mostly men, to fifty fifty between men and women.  Frictional unemployment is caused by the time it takes people to find jobs that best fits their skills and tastes. Structural unemployment is caused by the number of jobs available in the market not being enough to provide everyone with one. Job search is the process in which a person searches for a job to fit their skills and tastes. The government program that helps protect people's incomes for when they become unemployed is called unemployment insurance. A union is a worker association that uses numbers to bargain with employers to receive better wages, working conditions, etc.