87) Rick lost his job as a logistics and distribution coordinator nearly three years ago.
After a long and failed search, Rick inally gives up and stops looking for a new job. Rick’s
decision to suspend his job search causes the unemployment rate to ________ and the labor
force participation rate to ________.
A) increase; decrease
B) decrease; decrease
C) stay the same; decrease
D) increase; stay the same
E) increase; increase
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: New
AACSB: Relective thinking
88) In 2008 as the recession worsened, suppose discouraged workers were included as part
of the unemployment rate. Which of the following would have occurred?
A) The unemployment rate would have increased.
B) The unemployment rate would have decreased.
C) The labor force participation rate would not have changed.
D) The unemployment rate would not have changed.
E) The labor force participation rate would have decreased.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
89) Part-time workers are deined as people who are working
A) less than 20 hours per week.
B) between 20 and 35 hours per week.
C) less than 35 hours per week.
D) more than 10 hours per week.
E) fewer hours than they would want.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
31
90) A worker is considered part time if the worker
A) usually works less than 40 hours per week.
B) is not employed but is actively looking for work.
C) is a full-time student without a job.
D) usually works less than 35 hours per week.
E) is not employed and is not actively looking for work.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
91) Harry works at the video rental store for 20 hours per week. He’s asked his boss to
allow him to work 40 hours per week, but has been told that business is too slow. Harry is
considered
A) a discouraged worker.
B) an involuntary part-time worker.
C) a marginally attached worker.
D) not in the labor force.
E) a job seeker.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
92) People who are working up to 34 hours per week but would like to work more are
considered
A) involuntary part-time workers.
B) discouraged workers.
C) job leavers.
D) job seekers.
E) unemployed.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
32
93) Involuntary part-time workers are not working more hours due to
A) economic reasons.
B) a lack of training and skills.
C) an increase in the labor force.
D) family reasons.
E) educational commitments.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
94) Julie works part-time for economic reasons. She would be considered
A) an involuntary part-time worker.
B) a discouraged worker.
C) a job seeker.
D) not in the labor force.
E) unemployed as calculated by the Bureau of Labor statistics.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
95) Involuntary part-time workers are workers who
A) work less than 35 hours but would like to work full time.
B) work more than 35 hours but would like to work less than 35 hours.
C) work have lost their jobs within the last four weeks and are seeking another job.
D) work less than 35 hours by choice.
E) have withdrawn from the labor market.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
33
96) In measuring the unemployment rate, part-time workers are ________, and discouraged
workers are ________.
A) included as employed; included as unemployed
B) excluded; included as unemployed
C) included as employed; excluded
D) excluded; excluded
E) included as unemployed if they are involuntary part-time workers; excluded
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
97) In a country with a working-age population of 200 million, 140 million people are
employed and 20 million are unemployed. The size of the labor force is
A) 200 million.
B) 160 million.
C) 140 million.
D) 20 million.
E) 120 million.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Analytical thinking
98) Assume the U.S. population is 300 million. If the working age population is 240 million,
150 million are employed, and 6 million are unemployed, what is the labor force?
A) 300 million
B) 240 million
C) 156 million
D) 150 million
E) 144 million
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Analytical thinking
34
99) To be counted as employed by the BLS, in the week before the survey the person must
have worked for pay
A) at least 1 hour.
B) at least 5 hours.
C) more than 20 hours.
D) 40 hours.
E) None of the above is right because the BLS counts as employed anyone who works
volunteer hours at a non-proit institution.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
100) Which of the following people would be considered unemployed?
A) Sam, a part-time worker who wishes to work full time
B) Pat, who gave up looking for a job because he was discouraged about his job prospects
C) Victoria, who does not have a job and has been actively searching for work, but turned
down a job paying less than she desired
D) Shirley, who is working but expects to be laid of at the end of the month
E) Bobby, a full-time student in his last term before he graduates and who has not yet
started to look for a job
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
101) Bo is available and willing to work but has not actively looked for work in the past
month. Bo is ________ of the labor force and is ________.
A) part; counted as unemployed
B) part; not counted as unemployed
C) not part; not counted as unemployed
D) not part; counted as unemployed only if he has had a job within the last 12 months
E) not part; counted as unemployed regardless of whether or not he has had a job within
the last 12 months
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
35
102) Which of the following statements about the United States is (are) correct?
i. The labor force is larger than the number of employed people.
ii. The labor force is larger than the number of unemployed people.
iii. The number of unemployed people is larger than the number of employed people.
A) ii only
B) iii only
C) ii and iii
D) i and ii
E) i, ii, and iii
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
103) The unemployment rate equals
A) (number of people without a job ÷ population)× 100.
B) (number of people unemployed ÷ labor force) × 100.
C) (number of people without a job ÷ working-age population) × 100.
D) (number of people unemployed ÷ population) × 100.
E) [(working-age population – number of people employed) ÷ labor force] × 100.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Analytical thinking
104) If the working age population is 200 million, 150 million are employed, and 6 million
are unemployed, the unemployment rate is
A) 3.0 percent.
B) 25.0 percent.
C) 4.0 percent.
D) 12.0 percent.
E) 3.8 percent.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Analytical thinking
36
105) Suppose the population is 250 million people, the labor force is 150 million people, the
number of people employed is 130 million and the working-age population is 200 million
people. What is the unemployment rate?
A) 8.0 percent
B) 10.0 percent
C) 13.3 percent
D) 20 million
E) 15.4 percent
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Analytical thinking
106) The table above gives the number of people employed and the number of people
unemployed in Canada, Japan, and the United States on the average during 1999. In 1999,
the unemployment rate in ________ was the highest and the unemployment rate in ________
was the lowest.
A) the United States; Japan
B) Canada; the United States
C) Japan; Canada
D) Canada; Japan
E) Japan; the United States
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Analytical thinking
37
107) The table above shows data reported by the Oice for National Statistics for the
United Kingdom in September 2000. In September 2000, the unemployment rate is
A) 5.5 percent.
B) 1,619 thousand.
C) 3.5 percent.
D) 3.7 percent.
E) 5.8 percent.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Analytical thinking
108) The table above shows data reported by the Oice for National Statistics for the
United Kingdom in September 2000. In September 2000, the labor force participation rate
is
A) 59.7 percent.
B) 63.1 percent.
C) 34.8 percent.
D) 40.3 percent.
E) 58.3 percent.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Analytical thinking
109) Discouraged workers and marginally attached workers are
A) counted as employed by the BLS but are not part of the labor force.
B) counted as employed by the BLS and are part of the labor force.
C) counted as unemployed by the BLS and are part of the labor force.
D) not part of the labor force.
E) counted as unemployed by the BLS but are not part of the labor force.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
38
110) While in school, Kiki spends 20 hours a week as a computer programmer for Microsoft
and studies 30 hours a week.
A) Kiki is classiied as a full-time worker, working 50 hours a week.
B) Kiki is classiied as a part-time worker, working 30 hours a week.
C) Kiki is classiied as a part-time worker, working 20 hours a week.
D) Because Kiki is a student, she is not classiied as working.
E) Because Kiki is a student, she is classiied as a full-time worker, working 20 hours a
week at a paid job.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
111) Part-time workers for noneconomic reasons are people who
A) work less than 35 hours a week but would like to work more than 35 hours a week.
B) work more than 35 hours a week but would like to work less than 35 hours a week.
C) have lost their jobs within the last four weeks and are seeking another job.
D) do not want to work full time.
E) are discouraged workers.
Skill: Level 1: Deinition
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
112) The table shows data reported by Statistics Canada for 1999. In 1999, the
unemployment rate was
A) 1.2 million.
B) 5.0 percent.
C) 7.6 percent.
D) 7.9 percent.
E) 6.1 percent.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.1
Status: Old
AACSB: Analytical thinking
39
6.2 Labor Market Trends and Fluctuations
1) The average U.S. unemployment rate from 1948 has been about
A) 10.7 percent.
B) 19.7 percent.
C) 5.8 percent.
D) 2.7 percent.
E) 15.7 percent.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.2
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
2) Unemployment rates in the United States during the past 60 years
A) have remained between 4 and 6 percent.
B) have risen and fallen in a range between approximately 10 and 25 percent.
C) have risen and fallen in a range between approximately 4 and 10 percent.
D) have fallen steadily from approximately 10 percent 40 years ago to near 2 percent today.
E) have risen steadily and today are near all-time highs.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.2
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
3) A main reason for the low unemployment rate from 1995 through most of the 2000s was
because of
A) higher oil prices.
B) the government’s policy of tightening immigration policies.
C) the rapid development of the Internet industry and other new technologies.
D) government’s more liberal social beneit programs.
E) increased defense expenditures by the government.
Skill: Level 2: Using deinitions
Section: Checkpoint 6.2
Status: Old
AACSB: Relective thinking
40