Unemployment in Macroeconomics

Macroeconomics Coursework assignment word count: 1802

Marco Lau

What are the main means by which unemployment can be controlled?

Unemployment, the state of being unemployed, especially involuntarily can cause big problems in our modern world. But how does one measure such an enormous prospect? When measuring unemployment it is first necessary to measure the working population, as not every person is able to work. Looking at the elderly and young children as labour resources would be a waste of time. Therefore the first step to controlling unemployment would be to first measure the size of the scale we are working with. We must also look at current unemployment problems, more specifically the costs of unemployment, what causes unemployment as well as examining the various types of unemployment including voluntary and in-voluntary unemployment. Would 100% employment benefit the economy? Overall we must discuss the consequences unemployment bring and the means by which it may be controlled.

In order to measure unemployment in the UK we have the claimant count, the claimant count includes those people who are eligible to claim the Job Seeker's Allowance (JSA). People eligible to receive the JSA do so for six months before moving onto special unemployment measures. Some people even though they are searching for work do not fit