Employment/unemployment question?

Question

Use the following information to calculate the figures asked for below.

2005

Population = 230 billion people; Labor Force = 125 billion; and unemployment rate = 5%.

2. A. How many people are UNemployed in the year 2005? B. How many people are EMployed in 2005? C. What is the "employment rate" in 2005? (Calculate employment rate by dividing the total number employed by the population). Hint: Since approx. 1/2 of the population is in the labor force, the employment rate (those in the general population who are working) will be somewhere close to 50%.)

Answer 1

A:

125*5%=125*0.05=6.25 billion

B:

125-6.25=118.75 billion

C:

Usual solution for labor force:

100%-5%=95%

or

118.75/125=95%

Employment by method that they ask you:

Employed/Population=118.75/230≈ 0.5163=51.63%

Answer 2

A. 6.25 Billion.  B. your hint is not quite true.  you cannot base employment rate from the population but from the labor force coz the population includes children and oldies that are not expected to work. so employment rate should be based on the labor force. and that's the opposite of unemployment rate, i.e. 95%