Question

Use the following data to calculate (a) the size of the labour force and (b) the official unemployment rate: total population, 500; population under 15 years of age or institutionalized, 120; not in labour force, 150; unemployed, 23; part-time workers looking for full-time jobs, 10.

Answer 1

a) Size of labour force= Total population$-$ Population Under 16 years of age or Institutionalized$-$ Not in labour force.

$=500-120-150=230$

So total labour force is 230

b) Calculating unemployment rate by using Unemployed=23, and total Labour force=230.

That is, $\frac {Unemployed} {Total labour force} ×100$

$=\frac{23}{230}\times 100 =10\%$

So the unemployment rate is 10%