Define and determine the types and trends of UK unemployment

"Define and determine the types and trends of UK unemployment" Unemployment is when individuals are jobless but are willing and able to work at the going wage rate. The official government figures only count those that are registered as being unemployed and are actively seeking work. Different Measures of Unemployment There are several different measures of unemployment: * ILO - Any person without a job, available to work, willing to work and sought work in the past four weeks * Labour Force Survey (LFS) - Available to work within the next two weeks, currently without work, but have sought work in the past four weeks * The Claimant Count - This measures the number of people who are eligible and claim the Job Seekers' Allowance, as such, this method generally records fewer unemployed (around 400,000) From these figures is it possible to calculate the Unemployment Rate: Number of unemployed/number of economically active x 100 Types of Unemployment There are many different types and causes for unemployment: * Real wage unemployment: This is thought to be the result of wages being above the market clearing level, leading to an excess supply of labour. It is thought that national minimum wages can cause wage unemployment because the employees feel that the work is not worth the minimum amount. * Demand deficient unemployment: This is usually associated during a period

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1213
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay

Export Essay

Explain why the recent devaluation of the £ has not resulted in a significant improvement in the export performance of the UK. (25 Marks) Under normal circumstances a devaluation of the pound should make exports more price competitive and lead to greater export performance with greater quantities being sold. However this may not always be the case and might not always lead to a fall in the value of products imported. A fall in the exchange rate should lead to an improvement in the current accounts however following recent figures this is not true. Over the past few years given the 25% devaluation in sterling our export performance is not that impressive. Firstly, the demand from other countries to buy UK exports has not been too good due to the recent recession. Therefore aggregate demand (AD) decreased leading to a fall in UK exports. The UK has been running a persistent current account deficit for several years, but as the economy emerges from recession and domestic spending will return thus helping growth, import growth has still been stronger than exports. The rest of the world may also have a slow recovery in demand, especially in the European Union where household spending has not been up to scratch. Another reason it seems is that Britain's main trading partners have been stuck in low or no growth and are therefore unable to buy more goods and services. Here the

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 530
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay

Discuss the extent to which an increase in exports will improve an economy's macroeconomic performance.

Good macroeconomic performance is normative in nature therefore hard to be validated. However for the purpose of this essay, good macroeconomic performance basically involves low unemployment, high and stable economic growth, stable and low inflation and an acceptable and positive current account of the balance of payments. An increase in exports will bring about and increase in aggregate demand in the short run. Aggregate demand is made up of consumer expenditure, government expenditure, investment and net export, export minus imports. Therefore an increase in exports will increase net export and subsequently increase aggregate demand. An increase in aggregate demand would mean an increase in economic growth, which shows good economic performance. Diagram below shows the increase n aggregate demand. Exports will also improve the county's balance of payments. Balance of payments is the net trade in goods, services, investment and transfers. An increase in exports will mean that overall balance of payments will not be in a deficit but in a surplus. An improving balance of payments will also mean that the county's industries and firms are competitive and therefore show that the firms are economically healthy and performing well. However there are problems arising from an increase in exports. In the short run, with a short run supply curve, although an increase in exports will

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 523
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay

Examine two reasons why a government might wish to control increases in its expenditure

Examine two reasons why a government might wish to control increases in its expenditure Increases in government expenditure will shift the Aggregate Demand (the sum of all demand within an economy) outwards. This is called an expansionary fiscal policy (fiscal meaning relating to government spending), and may be implemented to stimulate an economy if it is in recession. Another type of fiscal policy is called contractionary fiscal policy, and is used to help control demand pull inflation. Demand-pull inflation is the increases in prices at a relatively higher rate than increases in income. This occurs when demand is greater than supply. A government may wish to control increases in its expenditure for a number of reasons, including controlling the extent of government intervention, letting market forces act and to prevent crowding out. The two reasons that I will examine are to keep the tax levels down and to control inflation. Taxes are placed in two categories. First there is direct tax, which is tax levied directly to a person or organization, for example income tax. The second category is indirect taxes, which are taxes placed on goods and services. In Australia, the main indirect tax is the Goods and Services Tax (GST). This is relevant to the governments expenditure plan because of the affect increases or decreases in expenditure will have on the budget, which is a

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 879
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay

The aim of this essay is to discuss the relevance of John Keynes to the current macroeconomic situation in the UK.

The aim of this essay is to discuss the relevance of John Keynes to the current macroeconomic situation in the UK. Macroeconomics can be defined as "the study of whole economic systems aggregating over functioning of individual economic units" (Bannock G, 2003: 236). It considers aspects of the economy from a government perspective such as the general price levels in an economy instead of a price level in a single market. John Keynes and economists who share a similar view to his on macroeconomics strongly believe that an economy will frequently settle below full employment. In such a situation aggregate supply will most likely be price elastic and increases in aggregate demand will mainly affect output. Keynes theory suggests government intervention through demand side policies in order to boost aggregate demand and reduce unemployment. However, Keynes theory is opposed by classical economists who believe that an economy will be at full employment and as a result demand side policies implemented by the government with the intent to boost demand will likely lead to an increase in prices and cause inflation. On the contrary to Keynes's recommendation classical economist insist government should implement supply side policies aimed at shifting aggregate supply to the right (Gillespie. A, 2007: 307). The government of any economy will set policies in order to achieve set

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1788
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay

Discuss the economic effects of a reduction in unemployment

Discuss the economic effects of a reduction in unemployment (18) One of the main government policy objectives is high employment or most of the countries even aim for full employment, which is a term for unemployment at 3%. This is because government acknowledges that employment benefits individuals, government itself and in most cases the whole society, as it can cause a sustainable economic growth and raise people's material standard of living. However, every single country has some degree of unemployment, as it is impossible to avoid, so government uses different policies to reduce as much unemployment as possible. These policies are demand side policy, which is increasing the AD to reduce unemployment and supply side policy which means increasing the AS using different methods and with it increasing the need of the labour. Using these two policies the unemployment will be reduced and the effect of reducing the unemployment is usually beneficial rather than detrimental, but I will discuss both sides in this essay. The most apparent and significant effect of the reduction in unemployment is the gain in output, as more people who are willing and able to work are working and this means that the country will be using the resources more efficiently. This will lead to a higher production in goods and services and increasing the material living standards. We can present this

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 631
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay

Current UK economic policies. Government management of the economy is a key political issue and each government sets targets and objectives. These are: stable economic growth, low stable inflation and low unemployment rates.

Government management of the economy is a key political issue and each government sets targets and objectives. These are: stable economic growth, low stable inflation and low unemployment rates. UK government, similarly to all governments around the world, uses different policies to achieve the main objectives listed above. Economic growth can be achieved by using policies in the short and long run. One of the policies that can be used is a monetary policy. In theory, reflationary monetary policy is to reduce interest rates. The lower the interest rates are, the higher economic growth is. What is more, it increases bank lending. People are more likely to borrow money from banks as they feel confident. This is because of the low interest rates and the awareness that they do not have to give back much more than they had lent before. Moreover, reflationary policy lowers value of LSterling because the value of UK currency becomes cheaper in comparison to other currency's. All these factors causes an increase in AD and overall the economic growth. Another short-run policy to increase economic growth to the UK objective level, i.e. 2.25%, is a fiscal policy. A reflationary fiscal policy is used and results in reducing taxes and raising government spending. Reduction in taxes cause that people have more money to consume. As a result they spend more. Government spending increases

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1081
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay

Discuss the benefits of economic growth

Discuss the benefits of economic growth Economic growth is simply, in the short run, the rise in real GDP due to rise in aggregate demand: and in the long run an increase in productive capacity (the maximum output that the economy can produce), meaning that the Factors of Production are either more efficiently used or more are discovered or found. Governments tend to try and achieve economic growth as it has many advantages, one of which is higher employment levels, which incidentally should lead to a decrease in unemployment. If more people who are willing and able to work in a country have a job (and therefore earning an income) the GDP of that country will inevitably increase and so if this high employment rate is stable and sustainable, economic growth, in the long run, will occur. Hence, employment figures could be seen as proportional to the GDP of a country. The employed workers are a Factor of Production called the labour force. If there is unemployment, then our Factors of Production are not being used as efficiently as possible and so the point on the Production Possibility Frontier will not be on the frontier itself, indicating that economic growth is not occurring as the productive capacity will not be increasing. However, if low levels of unemployment are sustained consistently, then you are using at least one Factor of Production to its full extent and so the

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1456
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay

Explain the possible causes of inflation

Inflation in an economy is defined as the sustained increase in the general price level, resulting in a decrease in purchasing power of consumers and a fall in the value of money. Some inflation is vital for the macro economy in order to maintain adequate levels of economic growth, and since 1997, the UK government has recognised this fact by allowing The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee to target a rate of 2.0% over the past fifteen years or so. The measure currently used by EU countries, including Britain, is that of the CPI (Consumer Price Index). This takes a weighted, indexed mean of a basket of goods deemed to be most influential in current household spending across the country. Other measures include the RPI and RPIX (the RPI, excluding mortgage interest repayments, as these fluctuate too readily). The UK has preserved one of the lowest inflation rates among EU countries in recent years, due to a thorough understanding of the causes of inflation and the policies necessary to manage it. On a microeconomic level, inflation can arise from the domestic economy. For example, major energy providers may decide to put up prices in line with projections for the year ahead, or monopolistic supermarket chains could engage in pricing wars, often to the detriment of the consumer and the pocket inflation they experience. Government VAT increases to fund its budget deficit

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1096
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay

Using an appropriate diagram explain how a government may attempt to close a deflationary gap.

Using an appropriate diagram explain how a government may attempt to close a deflationary gap. Inflation is a sustained general increase in the level of prices. The level of inflation may be 3% per annum, which means that $100 will buy 3% less goods next year than it does now. The opposite of inflation is deflation. This technically means that the price level, or the average prices of goods and services in an economy, is decreasing. In effect, this means that money is worth more over time. However, the word deflation has gained another meaning, and is more often used to describe a situation where an economy's output growth is slowing. A situation representing deflation can be drawn using the Keynesian 45? Line, which shows combinations of points where the two axes are equal. AD represents aggregate demand, which is the sum total of all demands in the economy at any given price. Real Y represents the real (adjusted for inflation) income of consumers. Keynesian 45? Diagram In this diagram, we can see that the level of aggregate demand is lower than the level of output at full employment, therefore the economy is overproducing and a decline in growth will occur. For example, say the level of current aggregate demand is $500, and aggregate demand at full employment is $600. This means that the value of the deflation is $100, that is, people are spending $100 dollars less than

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 856
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
Access this essay