宏观经济学的HUBBARD_MACRO_SG_08.pdfVIP

Chapter8(20)

UnemploymentandInflation

ChapterSummary

Unemploymentandinflationaretwoofthemostimportantmacroeconomicissues.Thischapterexplores

someofthefundamentalfactsabouttheseeconomicvariables.

Theunemploymentrateisthepercentageofthelaborforcethatdoesnothaveajob,butisactively

lookingforone.Thechapterlooksathowtheunemploymentrateandlaborforcearemeasured.Italso

examinescurrenttrendsinlaborforceparticipation,unemploymentbydemographiccharacteristics

(gender,race,andage),anddifferenttypesofunemployment.Therearethreetypesofunemployment:

1.frictionalunemploymentisshort-termunemployment.

2.structuralunemploymentariseswhenthereisamismatchbetweentheskillsworkershaveand

theskillsemployersarelookingfor.

3.cyclicalunemploymentarisesduringarecession.

Theinflationrateistherateofchangeinthepricelevel.Therearethreepriceindexeseconomistsuseto

measurethepricelevel:theconsumerpriceindex(CPI),theGDPdeflator,andtheproducerprice

index(PPI).Priceindexesareusedtoadjustnominalvariablesfortheeffectsofinflation.

LearningObjectives

Whenyoufinishthischapter,youshouldbeableto:

1.Defineunemploymentrateandlaborforceparticipationrateandunderstandhowtheyare

computed.TheU.S.BureauofLaborStatisticsusestheresultsofthemonthlyhouseholdsurveyto

calculatetheunemploymentrateandthelaborforceparticipationrate.Thelaborforceisthetotal

numberofpeoplewhohavejobsplusthenumberofpeoplewhodonothavejobs,butwhoare

activelylooking.Thelaborforceparticipationrateisthepercentageoftheworking-agepopulation

inthelaborforce.Sin