labor force

Examples of labor force in the following topics:

• Measuring the Unemployment Rate

  • The labor force is the actual number of people available for work; economists use the labor force participation rate to determine the unemployment rate.
  • In an economy, the labor force is the actual number of people available for work.
  • The unemployment rate is measured using two different labor force surveys.
  • U1: the percentage of labor force unemployed for 15 weeks or longer.
  • U2: the percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.

• Shortcomings of the Measurement

  • The rate is a percentage that is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by the number of individuals currently employed in the labor force .
  • Labor Force Sample Surveys: provide the most comprehensive results.
  • Some individuals also choose not to enter the labor force and these statistics are also not considered.
  • The unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployment calculated by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by the number of individuals currently employed in the labor force.
  • Describe the rates in the U.S. of those who are employed, unemployed, and not in the labor force

• Determinants of Long-Run Growth

  • Growth of productivity: is the ratio of economic outputs to inputs (capital, labor, energy, materials, and services).
  • Labor force participation: the amount of labor force participation and the size of economic sectors influence economic growth.
  • The labor force participation is the amount of workers available.
  • In countries with high development and industrialization, labor force participation is high because of low birth and death rates.

• Catch-Up: Possible, but not Certain

  • Demographics: demographics change the employment to population ratio as well as the labor force participation rate.
  • The age structure of the population affects the labor force participation rate.
  • Labor force participation: the rate of labor force participation impacts economic growth.
  • It is the number of people working in the labor force.
  • When manufacturing increased, it created a higher productivity rate, but lowered the labor force participation, prices fell, and employment shrank.

• Basic Ingredients of the U.S. Economy

  • The second ingredient is labor, which converts natural resources into goods.
  • Throughout its history, the United States has experienced steady growth in the labor force, and that, in turn, has helped fuel almost constant economic expansion.
  • Labor-force quality continues to be an important issue.
  • But natural resources and labor account for only part of an economic system.
  • Excessive hierarchy and division of labor increasingly are thought to inhibit creativity.

• Introduction to Labor in America: The Worker's Role

  • The American labor force has changed profoundly during the nation's evolution from an agrarian society into a modern industrial state.
  • About 40 percent of the workers in the cities were low-wage laborers and seamstresses in clothing factories, often living in dismal circumstances.
  • In this environment, labor unions gradually developed clout.
  • Organized labor continues to be an important political and economic force today, but its influence has waned markedly.
  • Organized labor, rooted in industries such as steel and heavy machinery, has had trouble responding to these changes.

• The Decline of Union Power

  • The changing conditions of the 1980s and 1990s undermined the position of organized labor, which now represented a shrinking share of the work force.
  • While more than one-third of employed people belonged to unions in 1945, union membership fell to 24.1 percent of the U.S. work force in 1979 and to 13.9 percent in 1998.
  • Many older factories have introduced labor-saving automated machinery to perform tasks previously handled by workers.
  • The shift to service industry employment, where unions traditionally have been weaker, also has been a serious problem for labor unions.
  • As if these difficulties were not enough, years of negative publicity about corruption in the big Teamsters Union and other unions have hurt the labor movement.

• Efficiency Wage Theory

  • The market-clearing wage is the wage at which supply equals demand; there is no excess supply of labor (unemployment) and no excess demand for labor (labor shortage).
  • The consequence of the efficiency wage theory is that the market for labor does may not clear and unemployment may be persistently higher than its natural rate.
  • Instead of market forces causing the wage rate to adjust to the point at which supply equals demand, the wage rate will be higher and supply will exceed demand.

• Depression and Post-War Victories

  • At the depths of the Depression, about one-third of the American work force was unemployed, a staggering figure for a country that, in the decade before, had enjoyed full employment.
  • When Roosevelt took office, he sought a number of important laws that advanced labor's cause.
  • The act established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to punish unfair labor practices and to organize elections when employees wanted to form unions.
  • The NLRB could force employers to provide back pay if they unjustly discharged employees for engaging in union activities.
  • Chavez, a Mexican-American labor leader, for example, worked to organize farm laborers, many of them Mexican-Americans, in California, creating what is now the United Farm Workers of America.

• The Labor Movement's Early Years

  • Since the early labor movement was largely industrial, union organizers had a limited pool of potential recruits.
  • The first significant national labor organization was the Knights of Labor, founded among garment cutters in 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and dedicated to organizing all workers for their general welfare.
  • AFL labor organizers faced staunch employer opposition.
  • The labor movement suffered a setback in 1905, when the Supreme Court said the government could not limit the number of hours a laborer worked (the court said such a regulation restricted a worker's right to contract for employment).
  • The principle of the "open shop," the right of a worker not to be forced to join a union, also caused great conflict.