The Employment Situation

Madeline Conway

April 18, 2014

Econ 122 Blog Post 2

Dr. Kassens

The unemployment rate is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment and it is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by all individuals currently in the labor force (Mankiw, 2012, p. 299). The Employment Population Ratio' is a macroeconomic statistic that takes the ratio of the total working age of the labor force currently employed to the total working age population of a region, municipality or country (Mankiw, 2012, p. 300).

And finally the labor force participation rate is defined as the percentage of working age people who are between 16-65 years old, either working or searching for work (Mankiw, 2012, p. 299). Before we can understand and differentiate between the two surveys of household data and establishment data we must know who is included in these surveys.

Within the household data this survey includes civilian uninstitutional, agricultural, self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and those who are 16 years of age and older. Within the establishment data this survey includes employees on nonfarm payrolls, hours and earnings, production and nonsupervisory employees which is defined as production and employees in manufacturing and mining and logging, construction workers in construction and non-supervisory employees in private service-providing industries. 

When looking at the household data, In March, the number of unemployment was unchanged at 10.5 million, and the unemployment rate is currently 6.7 percent. Both have shown little movement since December 2013. Over the year, the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate were down by 1.2 million and 0.8 percentage point, which is an estimate. The unemployment rate for adult women increased to 6.2 percent in March, and the rate for adult men decreased to 6.2 percent. The rates for teenagers (20.9 percent), whites (5.8 percent), blacks (12.4 percent), and Hispanics (7.9 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.4 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier (“The Employment Situation,” 2014). Going on to the employment-population ratio (58.9 percent) changed little over the month of March. Along with the employment population ratio the labor force population rate was at 63.2 percent, an increase for March. 

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons was little changed at 7.4 million in March. These individuals work part time because their hours have been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job (“The Employment Situation,” 2014).

In March, 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little changed from a year earlier. Which were not seasonally adjusted, Discouraged workers are not currently looking for work because they think no jobs are available to them. (“The Employment Situation,” 2014). When we analyze the establishment data survey the employment in other industries, include manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and financial activities, which showed us little change over the month.

In March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 1 cent to $24.30, following a 9-cent increase in February. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised from +129,000 to +144,000, and the change for February was revised from +175,000 to +197,000. With these revisions, employment gains in January and February were 37,000 higher than previously reported (“The Employment Situation,” 2014).

In 2014 we hope unemployment will continue to decrease, we also hope that more people of different demographics will join the workforce. We also hope that some of the subgroups like African American teenagers unemployment will improve. At this point in 2014 we can only estimate and wait and see how the rest of the year plays out.  

Works Cited

The Employment Situation – March 2014. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved from: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

Mankiw, Gregory. (2012). Principles of Macroeconomics: Sixth Edition. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.