Economists use labor-market data to evaluate how well an economy is using its most valuable resource—its people. Two closely watched statistics are the unemployment rate and the employment-population ratio. Explain what happens to each of these in the following scenarios. In your opinion, which statistic is the more meaningful gauge of how well the economy is doing?
a. An auto company goes bankrupt and lays off its workers, who immediately start looking for new jobs.
b. After an unsuccessful search, some of the laid-off workers quit looking for new jobs.
c. Numerous students graduate from college but cannot find work.
d. Numerous students graduate from college and immediately begin new jobs.
e. A stock market boom induces newly enriched 60-year-old workers to take early retirement.
f. Advances in healthcare prolong the life of many retirees.