1.

The condition of the labor market is a central focus of policy makers and

households. Let's consider the overall condition of the American market.

Go the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and look at the current

summary of the employment situation of the United States

(

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

).

a)

Tables A and B summarizes the major labor data for the economy.

Look over the data and highlight in a paragraph or two what you

think is important over the past three months about labor conditions

from both the household and the establishment surveys.

b)

Now I ask you to compare employment in the two different surveys

of the labor market. Go to table A-1 (household) and table B-1

(Establishments) and let me know the following:

i.

How many people are employed in Table A-1 versus B-1?

Why the difference?

ii.

Compare the seasonally adjusted levels of employment,

year-over-year for April 2019-2020, in the two surveys and

report on the change in the number employed in the two.

iii.

Now compare the number of total jobs in NFPE to jobs in the

private sector, both year-over-year for April 2019-20.

iv.

Lastly, compare the growth in employment in A-1 to Total

NFPE to Private NFPE, both in B-1. Is there much a

difference in the growth rates of these three?

c)

Look at tables A-2 and A-3. Is there any difference between the

rates of unemployment between teenagers and adults? Between

blacks, Asians, Latinos, and whites? Which category on this page

has the highest rate of unemployment? Provide some basic

numbers to make you case.

d)

Before you access the table cited here answer this question: state

in a few sentences what would you guess is the relationship or

correlation between the level of a person's education and the rate

of unemployment of people with that level of education? Why do

you think this relationship, if any, exists? Now, look at table A-4.

Describe, with some data to make your case, the relationship

between educational attainment and unemployment rates. Were

your expectations corroborated?

e)

Before you access the following table answer this question: You

know that many workers in the US economy work part-time rather

than full-time. In a few sentences tell me what would you guess is

behind this work-leisure decision in general - do people work part-

time because they want to or do they work part-time because that is

all they can find? Why do you expect this? Now, look at table A-8

and access the data on how many people work part-time and why.

Describe what you find, giving some numbers that tell us why folks

work part-time. Were your expectations corroborated?

f)

Speculate in a few sentences before you answer this question -

what percent of employed people in the US do you think are

farmers? Now, look again at table A-8. How many farmers are

there? What percentage is this of the total American employment

as reported by the household survey (see table A for total

employed)? Surprised or not?

g)

Look at table A-15 which lists several different methods of

computing labor under utilization. Which of these, in your opinion, is

the best indicator of labor conditions as measured by the household

survey?