14 Prepared by: Fernando Quijano and Yvonn Quijano © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 2 of 36 The Labor Market: Basic Concepts The unemployment rate is the ratio of the number of people unemployed to the total number of people in the labor force. Cyclical unemployment is the increase in unemployment that occurs during recessions and depressions.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 3 of 36 The Labor Market: Basic Concepts Frictional unemployment is the portion of unemployment that is due to the normal working of the labor market; used to denote short-run job/skill matching problems.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 4 of 36 The Labor Market: Basic Concepts Structural unemployment is the portion of unemployment that is due to changes in the structure of the economy that result in a significant loss of jobs in certain industries.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 5 of 36 The Classical View of the Labor Market According to classical economists, the quantity of labor demanded and supplied are brought into equilibrium by rising and falling wage rates.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 6 of 36 The Classical View of the Labor Market The labor demand curve illustrates the amount of labor that firms want to employ at each given wage rate. The labor supply curve illustrates the amount of labor that households want to supply at each given wage rate.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 7 of 36 The Classical View of the Labor Market If labor demand decreases, the equilibrium wage will fall. Anyone who wants a job at W 1 will have one. There is always full employment in this sense. Classical economists believe that the labor market always clears.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 8 of 36 The Classical Labor Market and the Aggregate Supply Curve The classical idea that wages adjust to clear the labor market is consistent with the view that wages respond quickly to price changes. This means that the AS curve is vertical. When the AS curve is vertical, monetary and fiscal policy cannot affect the level of output and employment in the economy.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 9 of 36 Explaining the Existence of Unemployment If wages stick at W 0 rather than fall to the new equilibrium wage of W* following a shift of demand, the result will be unemployment equal to L 0 – L 1.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 10 of 36 Explaining the Existence of Unemployment One explanation for downwardly sticky wages is that firms enter into social, or implicit, contracts. These contracts are unspoken agreements between workers and firms that firms will not cut wages.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 11 of 36 Explaining the Existence of Unemployment The relative-wage explanation of unemployment holds that workers are concerned about their wages relative to the wages of other workers in other firms and industries.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 12 of 36 Explaining the Existence of Unemployment Cost of living adjustments (COLAs) are contract provisions that tie wages to changes in the cost of living. The greater the inflation rate, the more wages are raised.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 13 of 36 Explaining the Existence of Unemployment The efficiency wage theory is an explanation for unemployment that holds that the productivity of workers increases with the wage rate. If this is so, firms may have an incentive to pay wages above the market- clearing rate.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 14 of 36 Explaining the Existence of Unemployment If firms have imperfect information, they may simply set wages wrongwages that do not clear the labor market.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 15 of 36 Explaining the Existence of Unemployment Minimum wage laws set a floor for wage rates, and explain at least a fraction of unemployment.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 16 of 36 The Short-Run Relationship Between the Unemployment Rate and Inflation In the short run, the unemployment rate (U) and aggregate output (income) (Y) are negatively related.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 17 of 36 The Short-Run Relationship Between the Unemployment Rate and Inflation The relationship between U and P is negative. As U declines in response to the economy moving closer and closer to capacity output, the overall price level rises more and more. As depicted by this short run AS curve, the relationship between Y and the price level (P) is positive.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 18 of 36 The Phillips Curve The Phillips Curve shows the relationship between the inflation rate and the unemployment rate. The inflation rate is the percentage change in the price level.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 19 of 36 The Phillips Curve There is a trade-off between inflation and unemployment. To lower the inflation rate, we must accept a higher unemployment rate.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 20 of 36 The Phillips Curve: A Historical Perspective In the 1960s and early 1970s, inflation appeared to respond in a fairly predictable way to changes in the unemployment rate.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 21 of 36 The Phillips Curve: A Historical Perspective But in the 1970s and 1980s, the Phillips Curve broke down. The points on this figure show no particular relationship between inflation and unemployment.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 22 of 36 Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand Analysis and the Phillips Curve When AS shifts with no shifts in AD, there is a negative relationship between P and Y. When AD shifts with no shifts in AS, there is a positive relationship between P and Y.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 23 of 36 Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand Analysis and the Phillips Curve If both AD and AS are shifting, there is no systematic relationship between P and Y and thus no systematic relationship between the unemployment rate and the inflation rate.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 24 of 36 The Role of Import Prices The AS curve shifts when input prices change, and input prices are affected by the price of imports. There were no large shifts in the AS curve in the 1960s due to changes in the price of imports. The price of imports increased considerably in the 1970s. This led to large shifts in the AS curve during the decade.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 25 of 36 The Price of Imports, 1960 I-2003 II The price of imports changed very little in the 1960s and early 1970s. It increased substantially in 1974 and again in 1979–1980. Since 1981, the price of imports has changed very little.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 26 of 36 Expectations and the Phillips Curve Expectations are self-fulfilling. This means that wage inflation is affected by expectations of future price inflation. Price expectations that affect wage contracts eventually affect prices themselves.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 27 of 36 Expectations and the Phillips Curve Inflationary expectations shift the Phillips curve to the right. Inflationary expectations were stable in the 1950s and 1960s, but increased in the 1970s.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 28 of 36 The Long-Run AS curve, Potential GDP, and the Natural Rate of Unemployment When output is pushed above potential GDP (Y 0 ), there is upward pressure on costs. Rising costs push the short-run AS curve to the left. The quantity supplied will end up back at Y 0. If the AS curve is vertical in the long run, so is the Phillips Curve.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 29 of 36 The Long-Run AS curve, Potential GDP, and the Natural Rate of Unemployment In the long run, the Phillips Curve corresponds to the natural rate of unemployment. The natural rate of unemployment (U*) is the unemployment rate that is consistent with the notion of a fixed long-run output at potential GDP.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 30 of 36 The NAIRUThe Nonaccelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment Many economists believe the relationship between the change in the inflation rate and the unemployment rate is as depicted by the PP curve in this figure. Only when the unemployment rate is equal to the NAIRU is the price level changing at a constant rate (no change in the inflation rate).

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 31 of 36 The Nonaccelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU) To the left of the NAIRU the price level is accelerating (positive changes in the inflation rate). To the right of the NAIRU the price level is decelerating (negative changes in the inflation rate).

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 32 of 36 The Nonaccelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU) A favorable shift of the PP curve is to the left because the PP curve crosses zero at a lower unemployment rate. A possible recent source of favorable shifts is increased foreign competition, which may have kept both wage costs and other input costs down.

C H A P T E R 14: The Labor Market, Unemployment, and Inflation © 2004 Prentice Hall Business PublishingPrinciples of Economics, 7/eKarl Case, Ray Fair 33 of 36 Review Terms and Concepts cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) cyclical unemployment cyclical unemployment efficiency wage theory efficiency wage theory explicit contracts explicit contracts frictional unemployment frictional unemployment inflation rate inflation rate labor demand curve labor demand curve labor supply curve labor supply curve minimum wage laws minimum wage laws NAIRU natural rate of unemployment natural rate of unemployment Phillips Curve Phillips Curve relative-wage explanation of unemployment relative-wage explanation of unemployment social, or implicit, contracts social, or implicit, contracts sticky wages sticky wages structural unemployment structural unemployment rate unemployment rate