Unemployment Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes about unemployment, covering key terms, concepts, and data from the United States labor market.

Discouraged Workers

Persons who would like to work but have withdrawn from the labor force because they could not find jobs.

Great Moderation

A period prior to the 2008 financial crisis when the United States had been able to moderate the volatility of business cycle activity.

Great Recession

A deep recession that the United States entered after a serious financial crisis in 2008.

Job Losers

Workers who lose their jobs due to layoffs or plant closings.

Job Leavers

Workers who leave their jobs voluntarily.

Reentrants

Job seekers reentering the labor market after spending time in the nonmarket sector.

New Entrants

Job seekers who are new to the job market, such as recent high school or college graduates.

Marginally Attached Persons

Individuals who are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past.

Underemployed

Persons who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule.

Labor Force Participation Rate

The percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population that is in the labor force.

Difference-in-Differences Methodology

A statistical method used to estimate the causal effect of a specific intervention or treatment by comparing the changes in outcomes over time between a population that is enrolled in a program (the treatment group) and a population that is not (the control group).

Frictional Unemployment

Unemployment that arises because both workers and firms need time to locate each other.

Seasonal Unemployment

Unemployment that occurs when workers in some industries are laid off regularly because of seasonal variations in production.

Structural Unemployment

Unemployment that arises because of a mismatch between the skills that workers are supplying and the skills that firms are demanding.

Cyclical Unemployment

Unemployment caused by a slowdown in the aggregate economy.

Steady-State Rate of Unemployment

The unemployment rate that would be observed in the long run as a result of labor flows.

Natural Rate of Unemployment

Another name for the steady-state rate of unemployment.

Incidence of Unemployment

The probability that an employed person loses their job.

Duration of Unemployment Spells

The length of time that a worker remains unemployed.

Wage Offer Distribution

The frequency distribution describing the various wage offers available to a particular unemployed worker.

Nonsequential Search

A job search strategy where the worker decides before starting to visit a set number of firms and accept the highest offer.

Sequential Search

A job search strategy where the worker decides on a minimum acceptable wage and accepts the first job offer that meets that criteria.

Asking Wage

The threshold wage that determines if the unemployed worker accepts or rejects incoming job offers.

Unemployment Insurance (UI)

A system that compensates workers who are unemployed and actively engaged in search activities.