Somthing

Question 1

Define three different economic categoires related to work

Answer 1

employed, unemployed and economically inactive

Question 2

Define unemployment

Answer 2

Those who do not have jobs but wish to get one (so they exist as part of the workforce)

Question 3

Define economically inactive

Answer 3

Those who are of working age but are neither in work nor actively seeking work
- diasbled, retired, children, carers and discouraged workers (given up at finding a job)

Question 4

State the difference between the LFS and claimannt count (3)

Answer 4

1) In LFS, some people who want to work are inelgibile for benefits or JSA as they have high income partners or high savings

2) People may not claim JSA or unemployment benefits due to the stigma so they aren’t included

3) LFS survey counts 16-17 yr olds but CC starts at 18

Question 5

Who may not be included in LFS or CC

Answer 5

• economically inactive
• voluntarily unemployed (rich)
• workers in informal sector, illegal immigrants, homeless

Question 6

What is the claimant count

Answer 6

The claimant count is the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits from the governnent
known as the jobsecker’s Allowance (JSA),

Question 7

Pros of claimant count

Answer 7

•Accurate in the sense that an exact number of people who claim unemployment benefit can be calculated - this makes it an inexpensive measure.
•It is easy to classify whether someone is actively seeking work or not.
•The data is produced monthly and therefore provides a timely indicator of economic activity

Question 8

Cons of claimant count

Answer 8

• It can be manipulated by the government to make it seem smaller - for example,
  change in the rules (e,g, raising the school leaving age to 19) could reduce the number of people who could claim ISA, which would make it seem that unemployment was falling,
• It excludes those people who are looking for work but are not eligible to ckaim JSA (e.g women returning to labour force after childbirth)
• includes people claiming benefits even thiugh they aren’t available/prepared to work 0
• doesn’t pick up underemployment
• too proud to claim JSA

Question 9

What is the labour force survey

Answer 9

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) uses a sample of the population (60000-7000 so sampling error).
It asks 60-70,000 households to self-classify as being employed, unemployed or economically inactive
- to be employed, mus tbe of wokring age (16-64) and actively seeking work whilst not being in work
- ILO: Are people without a job, want a job, have actively sought work in the last four weeks, and are able to start work within the next two weeks; or
are out of work, have found a job and are waiting to start it in the next two weeks
The Labour Force survey asks 60,000 people whether they are unemployed and whether they are looking for a job.

Question 10

Pros of LFS

Answer 10

• It’s thought to be more accurate than the claimant count.
• It’s an internationally agreed measure for unemployment, so it’s easier to make comparisons (same methodology used in many countries)
  with other countries.
• The criteria for assessing unemployment has changed little, and so it allows good quality time-series comparisons.
• It provides a rich data set on many aspects of the labour market including regional labour market activity

Question 11

cons of LFS

Answer 11

• It’s less up to date than the claimant count because of the way the data is collected, slow to pick up on changes in labour market activity
  (quarterly)
• It’s expensive to collect and put together the data.
• The sample may be unrepresentative of the population as a whole - making the data inaccurate. Extrapolated to give a picture of UK as whole.

Question 12

Which unemployment measure tends to be higher in figures

Answer 12

The figure from the Labour Force Survey tends to be higher than the claimant count because certain
groups of people are excluded from the claimant count. For example, some people can’t claim ISA
because they have a high earning husband/wife, or they might have too much money in savings.

Question 13

Define underemployment

Answer 13

Workers are underemployed when they are willing to supply more hours of work than their employers are prepared to offer

Question 14

define economically active

Answer 14

Those who are unemployed and actively seeking employment plus those who are currently unemployed

Question 15

Define discouraged workers

Answer 15

People often out of work for a long time who give up on job search and who become economically inactive in the labour market. A cause of hidden unemployment

Question 16

What type of demand is labour

Answer 16

Derived - employer’s demand for labour is derived derived from consumer’s demand for goods and services
- when demand in economy is low, unemployment rises
- when demand in economy is high, unemployment falls

Question 17

Define unemployment

Answer 17

those people who are able, available and willing to work at the going wage but cannot find a job despite an active search for work

Question 18

ILO definition of unemployment

Answer 18

someone who is out of work but is willing and able to work, and able to start a job within the next 2 week

Are people without a job, want a job, have actively sought work in the last four weeks, and are able to start work within the next two weeks; or
are out of work, have found a job and are waiting to start it in the next two weeks