Chh.11-12

Unemployed

Adults who do not have a job but who are looking for work.

Unemployement Rate

The percentage of the labor force who are unemployed.

Labor Force

All workers, employed plus u unemployed.

Labor Force Participation Rate

The percentage of adults in the labor force.

Discouraged Workers

Jobless individuals who have given up looking for work but who would still like to find a job.

Unemployment Rate

A Bureau of Labor Statistics measure that includes part-time workers who would rather have a full-time position and people who would like to work but have given up looking for a job.

Fictional Unemployment

Short-term unemployment due to the ordinary difficulties of job search and matching.

Structural Unemployment

Long-term unemployment that persists even when the economy is operating at normal levels of output, often caused by lasting shocks or institutional factors that make it difficult for workers and firms to match at mutually agreeable wages.

Active Labor and Market Policies

Policies that focus on getting unemployed workers back to work, such as job search assistance, job retraining programs, and work tests.

Median Wages

The wage such that one-half of all workers earn wages below that amount and one-half of all workers earn wages above that amount.

Unions

An Association of workers that bargains collectively with employers over wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Employment at-will Doctrine

The policy that an employee may quit and an employer may fire an employee at any time and for any reason; the most basic U.S. employment law despite many exceptions to it.

Dual Labor Market

Exists when the labor market is sharply divided between secure, well-compensated jobs and more precarious, poorly protected ones, with limited mobility between the two.

Cyclical Unemployment

Unemployment correlated with the business cycle.

Natural Unemployment Rate

The rate of structural plus frictional unemployment.

Labor Force Participation Rate

Baby Boomers

People born during the high-birth-rate years of 1946-1964.

Inflation

An increase in the general or average level of prices.

Inflation Rate

The percentage increase in the average level of prices (as measured by a price index) over a period of time.

Real Price

A price that has been corrected for inflation; used to compare the prices of goods over time.

Velocity of Money

The average number of times a dollar is spent on finished goods and services in a year.

Deflation

A decrease in the average level of prices; that is, a negative inflation rate.

Disinflation

A reduction in the inflation rate.

Money Illusion

The false perception that occurs when people mistake changes in nominal prices for changes in real prices.

Real Interest Rate

Real Rate of Return

The nominal rate of return minus the inflation rate.

Nominal Rate of Return

The rate of return that does not account for inflation.

Monetizing the Debt

The result of government paying off its debt by printing money.