Which of the following statements correctly describe discouraged workers?

A. They are part-time workers willing to work full-time.

B. They have given up on looking for a job but are still willing to work.

C. They are counted as part of the labor force by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

D. They are full-time workers who would like to work part-time.

The following table contains employment information for the U.S. from September 2008.

Civilian non-institutional population (16 years old and over)	Employed (number of people)	Unemployed (number of people)	Discouraged (number of people)
234,360,000	145,25,000	9,477,000	467,000

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates the official unemployment rate using the following formula: unemployment rate = unemployed / Labor Force x 100%.

Note that the official unemployment rate does not account for discouraged workers. Under the (BLS) definition, the total number of unemployed workers is (9,944,000, 9,477,000 or 89,105,000), and the total labor force is (234,360,000, 155,199,000 or 154,732,000).

If discouraged workers were to be included, the total number of unemployed workers would be (89,105,000, 9,944,000, or 9,477,000), and the total labor force would be (154,732,000, 234,360,000 or 155,199,000).

Fill in the following table by calculating the official unemployment rate using these two different methods. Round your answers to the nearest two decimal points. For example, (0.03467 x 100%) rounds to 3.47%.

Official unemployment rate	(6.41, 6.12, 93.88, or 6.52)
Unemployment rate with discouraged workers	(6.11, 6.41, 6.43, or 6.12)

Based off your calculations, excluding discouraged workers from the official unemployment rate may cause the official rate to (overstate or understate) the true extent of underemployment.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Discouraged workers are those who have left the labor force because they cannot find work T... View the full answer