For this box you will analyze the labor market before, during, and after the financial crisis in a minimum 1000 words.
You will analyze the 2006-2016 period; these are the years that have the same unemployment rates that book-end the period, 4.7% in both January of 2006 and in December of 2016.
- Go to BLS.gov and look for 1) the Unemployment Rate; 2) Labor Force Participation Rate; and 3) hours of work (search: total private average weekly hours of all employees), this one is available starting from March of 2006.
The purpose of this box is to document and explain these three indicators [25 points each indicator] during the Great Recession and unify the three measures into a single view of the labor market in the context of the financial crisis [25 points].
The participation rate and hours correspond to the extensive and intensive margins, respectively. The “extensive margin” refers to whether or not to work, and the “intensive margin” refers to how many hours, once one has decided to work (in line with the labor-leisure model of the household).
The box should reflect your familiarity with the concepts and the definitions. And, as always, the charts should have a title and have the axis labeled (with time in x-axis, and label variable(s) and units in the y-axis).
SHORTCUT:
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis compiles and stores economic data from many sources, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One-stop shopping for the data in this box can be found here:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/ (Links to an external site.)
The series are:
- Unemployment Rate (UNRATE)
- Labor Force Participation Rate (CIVPART)
- Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private (AWHAETP)
You can use the ready-made charts from FRED, though I encourage you to develop further your graphing and communication skills in Excel.
Enjoy Module 4, and here is a link to the third variable that you need for the Box —it is a bit hidden in the BLS website (in the table just tick on ‘Total private’).
Sample Solution
