Unemployment

Unemployment is when people are unable to find jobs at the prevailing wages for their skills and experience. Economists refer to this as "involuntary unemployment."

Some people think that to get figures on unemployment the Government uses the number of persons filing claims for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits under State or Federal Government programs. But some people are still jobless when their benefits run out, and many more are not eligible at all or delay or never apply for benefits. So the Government conducts a monthly sample survey called the Current Population Survey (CPS) to measure the extent of unemployment in the country. The CPS has been conducted in the United States every month since 1940 when it began as a Work Projects Administration project. [1] In the short term, unemployment is typically caused by liberal policies like the minimum wage and affirmative action.

In some fields (such as technology) the unemployment rate for persons over 45 years old can be as high as 80%.

At election time, unemployment is often portrayed as a great evil, but Milton Friedman said,

All of the progress that the US has made over the last couple of centuries has come from unemployment. It has come from figuring out how to produce more goods with fewer workers, thereby releasing labor to be more productive in other areas. It has never come about through permanent unemployment, but temporary unemployment, in the process of shifting people from one area to another. [2]

As of August 2007 the US Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate was down to 4.6%. [3]