Measuring Unemlpoyment

Question 1

What is The claimant count?

Answer 1

A way of measuring unemployment - it’s the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits from the government

Question 2

Advantages/Disadvantages of claimant count?

Answer 2

Data is easy to obtain, and it is update monthly - so always current

It can be manipulated by the government to seem smaller - e.g a change in rules (school leaving age 19) would decrease it and make it look smaller.

Question 3

What is the Labour Force Survey?

Answer 3

Another measure of unemployment - used a sample of the population and asks people who aren’t working if there seeking work - those who say ‘yes’ and are added to produce the ILO unemployment count.

Question 4

Advantages/Disadvantages of the Labour Force Survey?

Answer 4

It’s more accurate than the claimant count, and it’s internationally agreed measure for unemployment - easier to compare nationally.

It’s less up to date than claimant, it’s expensive to collect and may be unrepresentative of the population as a whole.

Question 5

What is unemployment?

Answer 5

The level of unemployment is the number of people who are looking for a job but cannot find one

Question 6

Why is unemployment bad?

Answer 6

Unemployment = lower incomes and less spending which means companies will sell less goods, or cut prices and make less profit

Fewer goods/services can be produced, and government has extra costs such as welfare benefits.