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100 percent of the labor force – is employed. But such is not the case. Some
unemployment is regarded to be normal or warranted. To understand what
“full employment” means it is reasonable to start with differentiating
between several different types of unemployment.
2. According to the old-style classification which is based on the
source of the problem, economists distinguish between frictional, structural,
and cyclical unemployment. They use the term frictional unemployment –
which consists of search unemployment and wait unemployment – for the
group of workers who are either searching for jobs or waiting to take jobs in
the near future. The adjective “frictional” correctly implies that the labor
market does not operate perfectly and instantaneously – that is, without
friction – in matching workers and jobs. Frictional unemployment is
thought to be inevitable and, at least in part, desirable. Why desirable?
Because many workers who are voluntarily “between jobs” are moving
from low-paying, low-productivity jobs to higher-paying, higherproductivity positions. This means more income for the workers and a better
allocation of labor resources – and therefore a larger real output – for the
economy as a whole.
3. Frictional unemployment shades into a second category, called
structural unemployment. Economists use the term “structural” in the sense
of “compositional.” Important changes occur over time in the “structure” of
consumer demand and in technology, which in turn alter the “structure” of
the total demand for labor. Because of such changes, some particular skills
will be in less demand or may even become obsolete. The demand for other
skills will be expanding, including new skills which previously did not
exist. Unemployment results because the composition of the labor force
does not respond quickly or completely to the new structure of job
opportunities. As a result, some workers find that they have no readily
marketable talents; their skills and experience have become obsolete and
unwanted by changes in technology and consumer demand.
4. The distinction between frictional and structural unemployment is
vague. The difference essentially is that frictionally unemployed workers
have salable skills, whereas structurally unemployed workers are not readily
reemployable without retraining, additional education. Frictional
unemployment tends to be more of a short-term character, while structural
unemployment is more long-term and therefore regarded as more serious.
5. By cyclical unemployment economists mean unemployment caused
by the recession phase of the business cycle. As the overall demand for
goods and services decreases, employment falls, and unemployment rises.
For this reason, cyclical unemployment is sometimes referred to as
deficient-demand unemployment.
6. According to the modern approach to unemployment which stresses
the way people in the labor market are behaving, economists differentiate
131
between voluntary and involuntary unemployment. The distinction between
these types of unemployment is important because it may affect our value
judgement about how much attention should be paid to the unemployment
problem. When individuals are voluntarily unemployed, they reveal that
they do better by being unemployed than by accepting the job. Involuntary
unemployment means that people would like to work but cannot find a job
because there is excess labor supply. When unemployment is involuntary,
people are suffering more and the case for helping them is stronger. In
modern terminology, the frictional and structural types of unemployment
are regarded as voluntary unemployment and the cyclical unemployment as
involuntary. Involuntary cyclical unemployment is much more than
economic malady; it is a social catastrophe as well. Depression means
idleness. And idleness means loss of skills, loss of self-respect, family
disintegration, and sociopolitical unrest. History makes it too clear that
severe unemployment is conducive to rapid and sometimes violent social
and political change. That is the private and social cost of unemployment.
7. Full employment does not mean zero unemployment. Economists
regard frictional and structural unemployment as essentially unavoidable.
Specifically, the full-employment unemployment rate is equal to the total of
frictional and structural unemployment. Stated differently, the fullemployment unemployment rate is achieved when cyclical unemployment
is zero. The full employment rate of unemployment is alternatively referred
to as the natural rate of unemployment. The full-employment or natural rate
of unemployment is currently believed to be between 5 and 6 percent.
8. The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labor force which
is unemployed:
ntunemployme
rate
laborforce
ntunemployme
100×=
.
The labor force is essentially all people who are able and willing to
work. Both those who are employed and those who are unemployed but
actively seeking work are considered to be in the labor force.
9. The accurate measurement of unemployment is complicated by the
existence of part-time and discouraged workers. The official data include all
part-time workers as fully employed. Some people work part time because
of personal choice. Some part-time workers either want to work full time,
but can not find suitable full-time work, or are on short hours because of a
temporary slack in consumer demand. These last two groups of workers are,
in effect, partially employed and partially unemployed. One must be
actively seeking work in order to be counted as unemployed. An
unemployed individual who is not actively seeking employment is classified
as “not in the labor force”. The problem is that there is a sizable number of
132
workers who, after unsuccessfully seeking employment for a time, become
discouraged and drop out of the labor force. The number of discouraged
workers is larger during recession than during prosperity.
10. The basic economic cost of unemployment consists of the goods
and services which society decides not to produce when its resources are
involuntarily idle. When the economy fails to generate enough jobs for all
who are able and willing to work, potential production of goods and
services is lost. Economists measure this sacrificed output in terms of the
GNP gap. The GNP gap measures the output which the economy sacrifices
because it fails to utilize fully its productive potential. The late, well-known
macroeconomist Arthur Okun quantified the relationship between the
unemployment rate and the GNP gap. This relationship, known as Okun’s
law, indicates that for every 1 percent that the actual unemployment rate
exceeds the natural rate, there is generated a 2,5 percent GNP gap.
2. Scan the text and write the number of the paragraph where
you find the following information. Do it as quickly as possible:
___ GNP gap
___ discouraged workers
___ Okun’s law
___ part-time workers
___ unemployment rate
___ frictional unemployment
___ labor force
___ natural rate of unemployment
___ unemployment as a social catastrophe
___ deficient-demand unemployment
___ wait unemployment
___ involuntary cyclical unemployment
___ structural unemployment
___ the character of frictional and structural unemployment
___ social cost of unemployment
___ economic cost of unemployment
___ accurate measurement of unemployment
___ partially unemployed workers
___ elusive concept to define
___ sociopolitical unrest
___ the modern-style classification
___ search unemployment
___ reemployable workers
133
COMPREHENSION CHECK
1. Match a line in A with a line in B to define the following terms:
A B
1) Frictional unemployment
2) Structural unemployment
3) Cyclical unemployment
4) Natural rate of unemployment
5) Unemployment rate
6) Labor force
7) Discouraged workers
8) GNP gap
9. Okun’s law
a) All people who are able and
willing to work.
b) The percentage of the labor force
which is unemployed.
c) The full employment rate of
unemployment.
d) The amount by which the actual
GNP falls short of potential GNP.
e) Unemployment caused by the
recession phase of the business
cycle.
f) The relationship between the
unemployment rate and the GNP
gap.
g) People who, after unsuccessfully
seeking employment for a time,
become discouraged and drop out
of the labor force.
h) Search unemployment and wait
unemployment.
i) Unemployment caused by changes
in technology and consumer
demand.
2. Fill in the blanks using the words from the list in the bottom
A.
1) ______ is not an unchangeable constant because of the shifting
demographics of the labor force or institutional changes (changes in
society’s laws and customs). For example, in the 1960s in the USA it was
commonly held that this unavoidable minimum of 2) ______ was about
4 percent of the labor force. In other words, 3) _______ was said to exist
when 96 percent of 4) ___________ was employed. But today, economists
generally agree that the natural rate of unemployment is on the order of
5) ________ .
a) frictional and structural unemployment, b) the labor force, c) the
natural rate of unemployment, d) full employment, e) 5 to 6 percent.
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B.
Why is 1) _____ higher today than in the 1960s? First, 2) ________ of
the labor force has changed. Women and young workers – who traditionally
have quite high unemployment rates – have become relatively more
important in the labor force. Second, institutional changes have occurred.
For example, 3) _____ has been expanded both in terms of
4) _____ covered and 5) _______. This is important because,
unemployment compensation permits unemployed workers to engage in a
more leisurely 6) ______ , thereby increasing 7) _____ and the overall
unemployment rate.
a) the natural rate of unemployment, b) frictional unemployment,
c) the unemployment compensation program, d) job search, e) the
demographic make-up, f) size of benefits, g) number of workers.
3. Scan the text to find information to answer the questions.
1. What are the two criteria for classifying unemployment?
2. What types of unemployment are known? What are their
characteristics?
3. Why is frictional unemployment thought to be at least, in part,
desirable?
4. What is another name for structural unemployment? Why?
5. What distinguishes frictional unemployment from structural one?
6. What do economists mean by cyclical unemployment?
7. Why is it difficult to determine the full employment
unemployment rate?
8. What is the private and social cost of unemployment?
9. When is the full-employment unemployment rate achieved?
10. What is natural rate of unemployment?
11. How is the unemployment rate calculated?
12. What is accurate measurement of unemployment complicated by?
13. What two groups of workers are regarded as partially
unemployed?
14. Why is unemployment regarded as an economic problem?
15. What is the “GNP gap”?
16. What relationship did Arthur Okun quantify?
17. What does Okun’s law state?
4. Choose the answer from the alternatives.
1. Capitalist economies are characterized by:
a) instability of employment;
b) full employment;
c) economic stability.
135
2. The United States’ economy is generally considered to be at “full
employment” when:
a) 10 to 20 percent of the labor force is unemployed;
b) 90 percent of the total population is employed;
c) about 5 to 6 percent of the labor force is unemployed;
d) 100 percent of the labor force is employed.
3. A large GNP gap implies:
a. a low rate of unemployment;
b. a high rate of unemployment;
c. a sharply rising price level.
4. Part-time workers are counted as:
a) unemployed and therefore the official unemployment rate tends to
overstate the level of unemployment;
b) unemployed and therefore the official unemployment rate tends to
understate the level of unemployment;
c) fully employed and therefore the official unemployment rate tends
to understate the level of unemployment.
5. The natural rate of unemployment is the:
a) full-employment unemployment rate;
b) unemployment rate experienced by the least-skilled workers in the
economy;
c) unemployment rate experienced by the most-skilled workers in the
economy.
6. Assume that Smith is temporarily unemployed because he has
voluntarily quitted his job with company A and will begin a better job next
week with company B. Smith will be considered as:
a) cyclical unemployed;
b) frictionally unemployed;
с) employed.
7. The unemployment rate is:
a) the ratio of unemployed to employed workers;
b) those people over 16 years of age who are not currently seeking
employment;
c) the percentage of the labor force which is unemployed.
8. Cyclical unemployment is also called:
a) wait unemployment;
b) search unemployment;
c) deficient-demand unemployment.
136
8. “For every 1 percent that the actual unemployment rate exceeds the
natural rate, there is generated a 2.5 percent GNP gap.” This is a statement of:
a) Hanson’s Law;
b) Okun’s Law;
c) the rule of 70.
VOCABULARY
1. Find English equivalents of the following Russian word
combinations:
1) фрикционная, структурная и
циклическая безработица
2) естественный уровень
безработицы
3) рабочая сила
4) рабочие, переставшие искать
работу
5) рабочие, занятые неполный
рабочий день
6) закон Оукена
7) уровень безработицы при
полной занятости
8) отставание объема ВНП
9) экономические издержки
безработицы
10) вынужденный простой
11) один процент прироста
безработицы сверх
естественного
уровня
a) GNP gap
b) Okun’s law
c) full employment
unemployment rate
d) labor force
e) economic cost of
unemployment
f) frictional, structural, and
cyclical unemployment
g) natural rate of
unemployment
h) discouraged workers
i) involuntary idleness
j) 1 percent increase in
unemployment above the
natural rate
k) part-time workers
2. Look through the text (p. 132) and find the words which mean
the following:
a) difficult to catch, find, or remember (1);
b) to let something become known, e.g. a secret or information that
was previously not known (6);
c) a sudden, unexpected, and terrible event that causes great suffering,
misfortune, or ruin (6);
d) a feeling of sadness and hopelessness (6);
e) a state of troubled or dissatisfied confusion, often with fighting (6);
f) not working or operating productively (10);
g) who has died recently (10);
h) to be greater than (10).
137
3. Match the words which are very close in their meaning:
1) voluntarily
2) to discourage
3) to understate
4) malady
5) dead-end
6) partially
7) conducive
8) recession
9) to warrant
10) slack
11) obsolete
a) to underestimate
b) to dispirit
c) old-fashioned
d) favorable
e) partly
f) hopeless
g) shortfall
h) sickness
i) decline
j) freely, willingly
k) to justify
4. Match the words having the opposite meaning:
1) to discourage
2) match
3) recession
4) temporary
5) part-time
6) to fail
7) short-term
8) excess
9) accurate
10) vague
a) shortage
b) permanent
c) inexact
d) long-term
e) prosperity
f) to encourage
g) mismatch
h) certain, clear
i) to manage
j) full-time
5. Read the text and insert the missing words from the list below.
LABOR MARKET FLOWS
Unemployment is a stock concept measured at a point in time. Like
a pool of water, its level rises when inflows (the newly unemployed)
1) ____________ outflows (people getting new jobs or quitting the labor
force altogether).
Beginning with people working, there are three ways to become
unemployed. Some people are sacked or 2) ________ (job-losers); some are
temporarily laid off but expect eventually 3) _________by the same
company; and some people voluntarily 4) _______ their existing jobs. But
the inflow to unemployment can also come from people not previously in
5) ________: school-leavers (new entrants), and people who once had a job,
138
then ceased even to register as unemployed, and are now coming back into
the labor force 6)________ (re-entrants).
People leave the unemployment 7) __________ . Some get jobs.
Others give up looking for jobs and leave the labor force completely.
Although some of this latter group may simply have reached 8) _________
at which they can draw a pension, many of them are discouraged workers,
people who 9) ________ about the prospects of ever finding a job and
decide to stop even trying.
The pool of unemployment is not stagnant. Even with 3 million
unemployed, this number is less than the number of people entering and
leaving the pool every year.
a. made redundant, b. in search of a job, c. quit, d. exceeds, e. the
retirement age, f. the labor force, g. to be rehired, h. have become
depressed, i. in the opposite directions.
WORD BUILDING
1. Analyze the following groups of the words of the same root
paying attention to suffixes and prefixes. Use the appropriate ones in
the sentences below. Choose the correct form of the word.
a) employ, b) reemployable, c) unemployable, d) employee, e) employer,
f) employment, g) unemployment, h) unemployed, i) employed.
1. Our firm ____________ more women than men.
2. The car industry is one of our biggest _____________ .
3. The number of people in _____________ has fallen.
4. Frictional unemployment includes people whose physical or
mental handicaps make them almost ____________, but it also includes the
people spending short spells in unemployment as they hop between jobs in
an economy where both the labor force and the jobs on offer are continually
changing.
5. The number of _____________ is rising all the time.
6. These closures will mean ____________ for about 500 workers.
7. The difference between frictional and structural unemployment is
that frictionally unemployed workers have salable skills, whereas
structurally unemployed workers are not readily ____________ without
retraining, additional education.
8. You would be better ___________ in preparing financial
statements.
9. The company has to make 10________ redundant.
139
2. Read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end
of each line to form a word that fits in the space in the same line. There
is an example at the beginning (0).
STRUCTURAL UNEMPLOYMENT
In the longer run, the pattern of demand and
(0) production
is always changing. Structural
unemployment refers to unemployment arising
because there is a (1) _________ of skills and job
opportunities when the pattern of demand and
production changes. For example, a (2) ________
welder may have worked for 25 years in
shipbuilding but is made (3)____________ at 50
when the industry contracts in the face of foreign
(4) __________ . That worker may have to
(5) _____________ in a new skill which is more in
demand in today’s economy. But firms may be (6)
_________ to take on and train older workers. Such
workers become the (7) ___________ of structural
unemployment.
PRODUCT
MATCH
SKILL
REDUNDANCY
COMPETE
TRAINER
RELUCTANCY
VICTIMIZE
3. The words in bold type in the following sentence can be used to
form other words with different grammatical functions. Fill in the
numbered spaces in the table below. The first one has been done for
you.
In 1983 the Thatcher government introduced the Youth Training
Scheme, which offers workers a temporary chance of a job.
Concrete
noun
Abstract
noun
Verb
“Positive”
adjective
“Negative”
adjective
government 1) governorship 2) 3) 4)
/ 5) introduce 6)
7) training 8) 9) 10)
worker 11) 12) 13) 14)
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