Review of the previous lecture

Economic prosperity, as measured by real GDP per person, varies

substantially around the world.

The average income of the worlds richest countries is more than ten times
that in the worlds poorest countries.

The standard of living in an economy depends on the economys ability to

produce goods and services.

Productivity depends on the amounts of physical capital, human capital,

natural resources, and technological knowledge available to workers.

Review of the previous lecture

Government policies can influence the economys growth rate in many

different ways.

The accumulation of capital is subject to diminishing returns.

Because of diminishing returns, higher saving leads to a higher growth for a

period of time, but growth will eventually slow down.

Also because of diminishing returns, the return to capital is especially high

in poor countries.

Lecture 17

Unemployment
Instructor: Prof.Dr.Qaisar Abbas
Course code: ECO 400

Lecture Outline

1. Natural rate of unemployment

2. Why is there unemployment?
3. Job search
4. Wage rigidity

Natural rate of unemployment

Natural rate of unemployment
the average rate of unemployment around which the economy fluctuates.
In a recession, the actual unemployment rate rises above the natural rate.
In a boom, the actual unemployment rate falls below the natural rate.
A first model of the natural rate
Notation:
L = # of workers in labor force
E = # of employed workers
U = # of unemployed
U/L = unemployment rate
Assumptions
1.
L is exogenously fixed.
2.
During any given month,
s = fraction of employed workers that become separated from their
jobs,
f = fraction of unemployed workers that find jobs.

Natural rate of unemployment

s = rate of job separations
f = rate of job finding
(both exogenous)
The transitions between employment and unemployment

Natural rate of unemployment

The steady state condition: the labor market is in steady state, or long-run
equilibrium, if the unemployment rate is constant.
The steady-state condition is:

Solving for the equilibrium U rate

f U

= s E
= s (L U )
= s L s U

Solve for U/L:

(f + s)U = s L
so,

Natural rate of unemployment

Example:
Each month, 1% of employed workers lose their jobs (s = 0.01)
Each month, 19% of unemployed workers find jobs (f = 0.19)
Find the natural rate of unemployment:

U
s
0.01

0.05, or 5%
L s f
0.01 0.19

Policy implication
A policy that aims to reduce the natural rate of unemployment will succeed only
if it lowers s or increases f.

How Is Unemployment Measured?

Based on the answers to the survey questions, each adult is placed into one of
three categories:
Employed
Unemployed
Not in the labor force

The BLS considers a person an adult if he or she is over 16 years old.

A person is considered employed if he or she has spent most of the previous
week working at a paid job.

A person is unemployed if he or she is on temporary layoff, is looking for a job,

or is waiting for the start date of a new job.

A person who fits neither of these categories, such as a full-time student,

homemaker, or retiree, is not in the labor force.

How Is Unemployment Measured?

Labor Force
The labor force is the total number of workers, including both the
employed and the unemployed.
The BLS defines the labor force as the sum of the employed and the
unemployed.
The Breakdown of the Population

How Is Unemployment Measured?

The unemployment rate is calculated as the percentage of the labor force that
is unemployed.

N u m b e r u n e m p lo y e d
U n e m p lo y m e n t ra te =
100
L a b o r fo rc e
The labor-force participation rate is the percentage of the adult population that
is in the labor force.

L a b o r fo rc e p a rtic ip a tio n ra te

L a b o r fo rc e
100
A d u lt p o p u la tio n

Why is there unemployment?

If job finding were instantaneous (f = 1),
then all spells of unemployment would be brief, and the natural rate would be
near zero.
There are two reasons why f < 1:
1. job search
2. wage rigidity
frictional unemployment: caused by the time it takes workers to search for a
job
occurs even when wages are flexible and there are enough jobs to go around
occurs because
workers have different abilities, preferences
jobs have different skill requirements
geographic mobility of workers not instantaneous
flow of information about vacancies and job candidates is imperfect

Why is there unemployment?

Sectoral shifts
def: changes in the composition of demand among industries or regions
example: Technological change
increases demand for computer repair persons, decreases demand for
typewriter repair persons
example: A new international trade agreement causes greater demand for
workers in the export sectors and less demand for workers in import-competing
sectors.
It takes time for workers to change sectors, so sectoral shifts cause frictional
unemployment.
more examples:
Late 1800s: decline of agriculture, increase in manufacturing
Late 1900s: relative decline of manufacturing, increase in service sector
1970s energy crisis caused a shift in demand away from huge gas
guzzlers toward smaller cars.
In our dynamic economy, smaller (though still significant) sectoral shifts occur
frequently, contributing to frictional unemployment.

Public Policy and Job Search

Govt programs affecting unemployment
Govt employment agencies:
disseminate info about job openings to better match workers & jobs
Public job training programs:
help workers displaced from declining industries get skills needed for
jobs in growing industries

Unemployment insurance (UI)

UI pays part of a workers former wages for a limited time after losing his/her
job.
UI increases search unemployment, because it:reduces the opportunity cost of
being unemployed, reduces the urgency of finding work hence, reduces f.
The longer a worker is eligible for UI,
the longer the duration of the average spell of unemployment.
Benefits of UI
By allowing workers more time to search, UI may lead to better matches
between jobs and workers, which would lead to greater productivity and higher
incomes.

Wage rigidity
Unemployment from real wage rigidity

Wage rigidity
Reasons for wage rigidity
1.Minimum wage laws
2.Labor unions
3.Efficiency wages (employers offer high wage as incentive for worker
productivity and loyalty)

The minimum wage

The minimum wage is well below the eqm wage for most workers, so it
cannot explain the majority of natural rate unemployment.

However, the minimum wage may exceed the eqm wage of unskilled
workers, especially teenagers.

If so, then we would expect that increases in the minimum wage would
increase unemployment among these groups.

Wage rigidity
Labor unions
Unions exercise monopoly power to secure higher wages for their members.
When the union wage exceeds the eqm wage, unemployment results.
Employed union workers are insiders whose interest is to keep wages high.
Unemployed non-union workers are outsiders and would prefer wages to
be lower (so that labor demand would be high enough for them to get jobs).

The duration of unemployment

# of weeks
unemployed

# of unemployed
persons as % of
total # of
unemployed

amount of time these

workers spent
unemployed
as % of total time all
workers spent
unemployed

1-4

39%

6.5%

5-14

31%

20.5%

15 or more

30%

73.0%

More spells of unemployment are short-term than medium-term or longterm.

Yet, most of the total time spent unemployed is attributable to the longterm unemployed.
This long-term unemployment is probably structural and/or due to sectoral
shifts among vastly different industries.
Knowing this is important because it can help us craft policies that are more
likely to succeed.

Summary

The natural rate of unemployment

the long-run average or steady state rate of unemployment
depends on the rates of job separation and job finding

Frictional unemployment
due to the time it takes to match workers with jobs
may be increased by unemployment insurance

Structural unemployment
results from wage rigidity - the real wage remains above the equilibrium
level
causes: minimum wage, unions, efficiency wages

Summary

Duration of unemployment
most spells are short term
but most weeks of unemployment are attributable to a small number of
long-term unemployed persons