Suppose the civilian noninstitutionalized working age population is 35.9 million in Laborland, 4.6 million are working part time, and 15.71 million are working full time. Laborland used the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) definitions for unemployment date. Among those not working, the most recent job search activity for 3.20 million happened less than two weeks ago, while 1.72 million most recently looked for work between two and four weeks ago. An additional 0.86 million most recently looked for work five weeks ago, the remaining 9.81 million who don't have jobs have not looked for work in the past six weeks. Round your answers to two decimal places
1. What is Laborland's total labor force?
2. What is Laborland's labor force participation rate?
3. How many people are unemployed in Laborland?
4. What is Laborland's unemployment rate?

Answers:

1. 25.23 million

2. 70.28%

3. 4.92 million

4. 19.50%

Explanation:

First of all, Let m = million

Before calculating Laborland's total labor force, we must first determine the total number of people employed and unemployed.

Total no. of employed people = No. of full time workers + no. of part time workers

                                           = 15.71m + 4.6m

                                           = 20.31m

Total no. of unemployed people = This include all who have searched for jobs in the past 4 weeks and are not working.

                                           = 3.2m + 1.72m

                                           = 4.92m

Therefore,

Labor force = Total no. of employed people + Total no. of unemployed people.

                    = 20.31m + 4.92m

                    = 25.23m

Labour force participation rate = labor force divided by the non-institutionalized working age population, which is;

                      = 25.23m/35.9m

                      = 0.7028 = 70.28%

Laborland's unemployment rate = total number of unemployed people divided by labor force

                     = 4.92m / 25.23m

                     = 0.1950 = 19.5%