Defining Unemployment: A Little Quiz

3. Put a check mark in front of those who would be counted as unemployed using the U.S. Department of Labor definition of unemployment.

a. A person who quit a job to become a full-time student.

b. A 14 year-old girl who is looking for a babysitting job.

c. A person who lost his job a year ago, would like another job, but is not looking for one because he is sure that none is available.

d. A recent college graduate who is looking for a job, but will not accept anything paying less than $75,000.

e. A person working only five hours a week who is looking for a job that gives her 40 hour per week.

f. An illegal alien searching for a job.

4. In addition to the traditional unemployment rate, the BLS publishes five other measures of unemployment called U-1, U-2, etc. A discussion of what they mean can be found at www.bls.gov/ore/pdf/ec090020.pdf. At this writing, the current statistics for these measures can be found at www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm. What is the U-6 rate and why is it so much higher than the offical rate? Which of the limitations of the unemployment rate discussed in the reading do these measures address?

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