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Full employment and the natural rate of unemployment - YouTube
Channel: EnhanceTuition
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In this video you’ll learn about the terms
unemployment, the unemployment rate, full
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employment and the natural rate of unemployment.
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We’ll also use diagrams to demonstrate full
employment and the natural rate of unemployment.
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Unemployment includes the number of people
in the labour force who do not currently have
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a job and are (a) currently seeking a job
and (b) available to work.
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The unemployment rate measures unemployment
as a percentage of the labour force, not the
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population.
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Full employment occurs when there is only
frictional unemployment.
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It can be represented diagrammatically on
the PPC as any point along the production
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possibilities curve.
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This then means, it also corresponds to the
LRAS curve at maximum output.
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Full employment is sometimes used interchangeably
with the natural rate of unemployment but
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the two concepts are not necessarily the same.
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The International Labour Organisation describes
it as “…the situation where all people
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who are available and searching for work can
find a job at the prevailing remuneration
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rates and conditions.”
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They place the range of full employment between
3-6% in modern advanced economies.
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This is seen here on the Keynesian aggregate
supply curve at the portion of the curve that
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is vertical.
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Hence the label, Yfe or output at full employment.
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Second is the natural rate of unemployment.
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It is a concept put forward by Milton Friedman
from the monetarist school of economics.
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The natural rate of unemployment is the level
of unemployment that corresponds to the level
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of unemployment that would exist if the economy
were at its long run level of production.
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At this point, inflation is stable.
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If unemployment were to decrease, the inflation
rate would rise.
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The natural rate includes both frictional
and structural unemployment, but not cyclical
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and therefore cannot be reduced by using monetary
and fiscal policy.
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It can only be reduced by using supply-side
policies.
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The natural rate of unemployment will occur
when the economy is operating at its potential
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level of output in the long-run, shown here
by Y*.
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Also, when the economy is in long run and
short run equilibrium at Y*, the expected
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inflation rate is equal to the actual inflation
rate.
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This will not be the case when actual output
is above or below potential output which is
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at Y*.
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To take it a step further, let’s diagram
the natural rate of unemployment specifically.
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The labour force is represented by the first
supply curve aptly labeled labour force.
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Given the demand for labour DL, the actual
number of workers taking up jobs is less than
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what we would expect given this information.
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In actuality, the workers who are able, willing
and do take up employment are represented
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by SL.
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The two supply curves SL and Labour Force
converge because at higher wage rates we would
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anticipate more workers accepting jobs.
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As it stands, the wage rate will be equal
to W* and the quantity employed is Q1.
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The distance from Q1 to Q2 represents the
natural rate of unemployment.
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This is because at any given time in an economy,
there will be some workers who do not accept
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jobs and are waiting for something better.
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Additionally, some workers cannot take certain
jobs due to the immobility of labour.
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This may be either geographic or occupational.
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There are various other reasons to explain
this, but the unemployment that exists from
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Q1 to Q2 is frictional and structural.
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Given this information, what can a government
do in order to reduce its natural rate of
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unemployment?
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It could pursue a variety of supply side policies
that would increase the incentive to work.
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They could also consider policies that help
reduce the geographical and occupational immobility
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of labour.
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Several potential policies are listed here.
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By now you should have a better understanding
of the terms unemployment, the unemployment
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rate, full employment and the natural rate
of unemployment.
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You should also now be able to use some diagrams
to demonstrate both full employment and the
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natural rate of unemployment.
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There are some complicated parts to these
concepts, so feel free to leave a question
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or comment if you have one and let’s try
and answer them together.
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That’s us done for now and I will see you
in the next one!
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