Describe the recent rate of unemployment and how it has changed over the last year.
Describe the recent rate of unemployment and how it has changed over the last year.
US Unemployment – Econ
Discussion 1 Response
By M,H
US Unemployment Rate
The rate of unemployment according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics has decreased over the past year. What has driven the unemployment rate to decrease is the increase in production of jobs, as of April 2017, 200,000 new jobs were created within the United States and primarily 67,000 of those jobs were correlated to health care positions.
The role of the cyclical, structural and frictional unemployment:
In correlation to health care positions, cyclical unemployment can be compared to management positions due to the limited amount of positions made available for example there is one manager position for one department of 45 nurses and techs.
Structural unemployment would be compared to Borders Book store due to the amount of electronic readers such as Kindles and online reading materials; this establishment was unable to keep up the supply and demand and eventually went out of business.
Frictional Unemployment would be the nursing career, initially it is hard to obtain a job within your first year out of nursing school, however, after time because there is a huge turnover rate and variable ranges of hourly rates depending on the job location as well as agency opportunities there is a lot to be focused on for the search for the right job.
The forecast of unemployment rate over the next three years will continue to decrease because with the amount it has already decreased from last year I have high hopes it will continue in the right direction. It is also dependent on our president and future president. For example, the health care laws that will take into action within the year will continue to open up job positions within the emergency departments throughout the nation due to decreased amounts of insurance coverage and therefore leading patients towards ED for overall health care.
The steps the government should be making to improve the employment situation is spend less time focused on taking away women’s rights and more time on what is important on our economy.
References:
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017). Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject. Retrieved from https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000.
Gillespie, P. (2017, May, 5). US unemployment hits 4.4%, lowest in a decade. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/05/news/economy/april-jobs-report-us-economy/index.html.
Discussion 2 Response
By R,C
In May of 2016 the unemployment rate was 4.3 percent. This accounted for those that were out of work but looking for jobs. By May 2017, the unemployment rate has dropped to 3.8% a record low for the past decade. The unemployment rate of women 16 years and older in May 2017 was 4.2% which was a 0.3% difference that this time last year. Men 16 and older, on the other hand saw a greater change. Starting at 4.6% unemployment in May 2016 and dropping to 4.0% in May 2017. In the past year the racial demographics of employment has not changed within the past year. Seventy-nine percent of the workforce were White, 12% were African American/Black, and 6% were Asian in Both May 2017 and 2017.
Explain what has driven the unemployment rate and any recent changes.
When there is more money available and a higher demand, jobs are created. The recent drops in the unemployment rate may be due to the new warehouses being built due to more online shopping, the proposals of more infrastructure, the proposals of lower taxes, and increasing demand (Gould, 2016).
Describe the role of cyclical, structural, and frictional unemployment in the current unemployment situation.
Cyclical unemployment occurs when there aren’t enough jobs because there is a slow growth in the economy or there is a low demand of workers. Currently some businesses are on a hiring freeze until the budget is formulated and approved for the next fiscal year, this may cause some of the current cyclical unemployment. Some jobs only employ during certain times of the year, such as teachers, road construction, and crop workers. When these jobs are out for the season of part of the year it causes seasonal unemployment and with school recently ending, I’m sure the teachers and other school workers are part of the current unemployment situation. Structural unemployment occurs when there aren’t any jobs to match your skill set. I have personally experienced this and I learned that for some people unemployment can be short term or long term. With stricter guidelines for health care, many health care facilities are requiring for new hires and even current employees go back to school to work for them and this alone can lead to some people being unemployed temporarily until they have the appropriate certifications of requirements. Last but not least frictional unemployment is a result of people looking for better jobs. Most of the time this group is made up of recent graduates, those with desired skills, and those that can afford to take a brief moment of unemployment without serious consequences (Schiller, 2013). With many students graduating in May from colleges and universities I can imagine that they are included in this group currently. While some students may have been hired before graduating, some students are still on the hunt looking for the right job for their degree.
Forecast the unemployment rate over the next 3 years.
I believe that the unemployment rate will relatively remain the same. Although unemployment rate is at a record low for the past decade, many people are not full time employees like they wish to be and many jobs are in retail and fast food industries where wages are complained about. The labor force may increase, but structural unemployment may increase as well.
Describe the steps the government should be making to improve the employment situation, if any.
I think that the government should help people actually acquire the skill sets needed to get jobs. There are programs for felons, young mothers, and young adults but many people don’t know about them. Perhaps the incentives that they give companies for hiring people they can use for training programs for those entering of reentering the work force, giving them the opportunity to learn skills and bid for a job at these companies while actually earning a certification to prove their skills for other companies, if they aren’t hired initially.
References
Amadeo, K. (2017). US Economic Outlook: 2017 and Beyond. The Balance. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/us-economic-outlook-3305669
Gould, E. (2017). Why Unemployment Rate Will Keep Dropping in 2017. Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/blog/why-unemployment-will-keep-dropping-in-2017/
Schiller, B.R. (2013). The Macro Economy Today. McGraw Hill: New York, NY