Chapter 28 - Unemployment

Vocabulary
Labor Force


 * Definition: The total number of workers, including both the employed and the unemployed.

Unemployment Rate
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: The percentage of the labor force that is unemployed.

Labor-Force Participation Rate
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: The percentage of the adult population that is in the labor force.

Natural Rate of Unemployment
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: The normal rate of unemployment around which the unemployment rate fluctuates.

Cyclical Unemployment
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: The deviation of unemployment from its natural rate.

Discouraged Workers
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: Individuals who would like to work but have given up looking for a job.

Frictional Unemployment
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: Unemployment that results because it takes time for workers to search for the jobs that best suit their tastes and skills.

Structural Unemployment
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: Unemployment that results because the number of jobs available in some labor markets is insufficient to provide a job for everyone who wants one.

Job Search
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: The process by which workers find appropriate jobs given their tastes and skills.

Unemployment Insurance
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: A government program that partially protects workers' incomes when they become unemployed.

Union
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: A worker association that bargains with employers over wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Collective Bargaining
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: The process by which unions and firms agree on the terms of employment.

Strike
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: The organized withdrawal of labor from a firm by a union.

Efficiency Wages
 * What It Means:


 * Definition: Above-equilibrium wages paid by firms to increase worker productivity.


 * What It Means: