Unemployment

Question 1

How does the claimant count work?

Answer 1

Counts number of individuals claiming the job seeker’s allowance

Question 2

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Claimant Count

Answer 2

Advantages:
Cheap and Easy to collect and updates frequently

Disadvantages:
Not everyone who is unemployed claims benefits - underestimating the real figure

Difficult to compare as most countries use the LFS

Question 3

What is the Labour Force Survey?

Answer 3

A sample of people who are asked questions about their employment status

Question 4

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Labour Force Survey

Answer 4

Advantages:
Considers underemployment

Easy to compare with other countries

Disadvantages:
Sample may not be reflective of population size

People may lie about their employment status on the survey

Slow to update as the sample survey takes time

Question 5

What is economic inactivity?

Answer 5

When someone is not in employment, but is not seeking or able to work

Question 6

Structural Unemployment

Answer 6

The skills of those unemployed do not match the skills required by employers (causing long term unemployment)

Question 7

Frictional Unemployment

Answer 7

Short term unemployment when individuals are temporarily between jobs

Question 8

Seasonal Unemployment

Answer 8

Employment that occurs when certain industries experience reduced demand during certain periods of the year.

Question 9

Cyclical Unemployment (Demand Deficient)

Answer 9

Unemployment linked to fluctuations in the economic cycle

Question 10

Real Wage inflexibility

Answer 10

When wages in the labour market are fixed at a level above the market equilibrium, preventing them from adjusting to market forces of supply and demand