Deck 11: Unemployment: Is Joblessness an Overrated Problem

Question 1

Individuals losing their jobs as a result of a recessed economy are an example of

A) cyclical unemployment.
B) frictional unemployment.
C) structural unemployment.
D) natural unemployment.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Individuals losing their jobs as a result of a new production process displacing them are an example of

A) frictional unemployment.
B) cyclical unemployment.
C) deficient-demand unemployment.
D) structural unemployment.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Conservatives define the "natural rate of unemployment" as

A) a zero rate of unemployment.
B) the unemployment rate plus the inflation rate.
C) the minimum unemployment rate consistent with price stability.
D) a 3 percent unemployment rate.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Conservatives believe that minimum wage increases serve to

A) increase employment.
B) reduce wages.
C) reduce employment.
D) reduce the need for job programs.

Question 5

A Liberal solution to the unemployment problem is

A) tight money.
B) tight fiscal policy.
C) a workforce program.
D) balanced federal budgets.

Question 6

Stagflation is characterized by

A) high growth, high unemployment.
B) low growth, low inflation.
C) high inflation, high unemployment.
D) low growth, low unemployment.

Question 7

Radicals argue that unemployment is necessary to the system because

A) unemployment helps depress wages.
B) new jobs require people to fill them.
C) unemployment holds down inflation.
D) wages are too low.

Question 8

Conservatives believe unemployment rates are overstated when

A) part-time workers are counted as employed.
B) non-head-of-households lose part-time jobs.
C) people over age sixty-five retire.
D) people "drop out" of the labor force.

Question 9

An example of structural unemployment would be

A) a worker quitting his or her job voluntarily to look for another.
B) layoffs of seasonal farm workers.
C) job losses due to a recession.
D) the autoworker losing his or her job to a robot.

Question 10

Conservatives blame the high "natural rate of unemployment" on

A) labor unions and other forces maintaining artificially high wages.
B) job employment services that increase the price of employment searching.
C) prices and wages being flexible downward and incentives to find work.
D) too little government action to reduce the unemployment rate.

Question 11

Conservatives claim that employers that discriminate against particular groups will have

A) a higher rate of profit.
B) a lower rate of profit.
C) to pay high litigation costs of lawsuits.
D) no effect on their business.

Question 12

According to Conservatives, which factor did not account for the low unemployment rate of the 1990s?

A) Aging of the baby boomers.
B) Fewer new entrants into labor markets.
C) Government job training programs.
D) Reductions in capital gains tax rate.

Question 13

Radicals argue that

A) some government regulations can be helpful in reducing unemployment.
B) no government regulation is the best way to lower the unemployment rate.
C) unemployment is a simple fact of "regulated" or unregulated capitalism.
D) Keynesian fiscal policies are effective in greatly reducing unemployment.

Question 14

During the last recession, the duration of unemployment showed a marked increase for which two groups?

A) High school graduates and workers under age forty-five.
B) College graduates and workers over age forty-five.
C) High school graduates and workers over age forty-five.
D) College graduates and workers under age forty-five.

Question 15

Conservatives argue that the coming retirement of baby boomers will lead to

A) a labor shortage and higher output.
B) increased unemployment and higher output.
C) a labor shortage and lower output.
D) increased unemployment and lower output.

Question 16

According to Liberals, increased joblessness is associated with all of the following except

A) lower tax revenues.
B) increased homicides.
C) lower hospital admissions.
D) higher unemployment insurance costs.
E) None of the above.

Question 17

Radicals claim that the long-term rise in the unemployment rate is largely the result of

A) insufficient job-training programs.
B) technological unemployment.
C) government regulations.
D) generous unemployment insurance payments.
E) None of the above.

Question 18

The "natural rate of unemployment" thesis is principally advocated by Conservatives.

Question 19

During the last half of the 1990s, the unemployment rate fell and the total number of employed persons continued to rise.

Question 20

A low unemployment rate is usually associated with a greater number of potential workers dropping out of the labor force.

Question 21

Conservatives claim that based on current demographic trends, it is quite possible that the United States will experience a labor shortage.

Question 22

The inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage steadily increased through the 1980s and 1990s.

Question 23

Structural unemployment refers to unemployment that remains despite expansionary fiscal and monetary policies.

Question 24

A "tight money" policy by the Federal Reserve Board facilitates employment and output growth.

Question 25

To Conservatives and Liberals, the ending of discrimination through affirmative action would reduce chronic unemployment.

Question 26

Liberals believe that discrimination is a major cause of unemployment.

Question 27

Conservatives argue that the "comparable worth" doctrine will help lower discrimination, but not significantly reduce the unemployment rate.

Question 28

Liberals would blame all recent unemployment problems on institutional, technological, or "structural" shifts in the economy.

Question 29

Though Liberals and Conservatives disagree on the need for labor unions, both see high wages as the key cause of chronic unemployment.

Question 30

Radicals claim that if labor unions represented at least 75 percent of all workers, then capitalism could survive indefinitely.

Question 31

Radicals argue that increased profitability is dependent upon increased productivity, which necessarily leads to greater technological unemployment.

Question 32

An example of structural change in the American economy is the migration of manufacturing jobs into the Midwest.