Overview

People need income in order to consume, and consumption leads to production, and production leads to higher demand for labor (employment), so unemployment is a crucial macroeconomic issue that confronts all modern economies. A lower unemployment rate, however, is not the end of the problem. The type of employment and the price of labor (wages) have to be sufficient for consumption (which is the major component of GDP) for the economy to be healthy. If wages are low or if the prices in the economy are high, consumption would be low and thus, production and demand for labor would be low as well. So high unemployment rate, high part-time employment rate for economic reasons, and low wages could have negative effects on economic growth.

Assignment Description

In this assignment, you need to analyze unemployment-related issues. You need to analyze only one issue (topic).

You are going to study the past trends, provide an overview of the current status, and provide solutions to overcome any problems related to the issue you are studying. You will use data, articles, and government reports to draw a clear picture of the current unemployment issues.

Some unemployment-related topics that you could choose from (choose only one topic) include the following.

• Part-time employment rates for economic reasons
• Unemployment rates among young college graduates
• Unemployment rates by gender
• Unemployment rates among Black and Hispanic communities
• Low supply of labor (professionals) in certain industries
• High supply of labor in education
• Low wages by profession and their causes
• Low demand for labor in some industry (you could choose whatever industry you wish)
• Low wages in some parts of the country
• High unemployment rate among workers with high school diploma or less

Your research needs to be structured with consistent and clear thoughts. It also needs to be supported by facts and data. Your results need to be based on solid facts. Your conclusion and recommended solution need to be thorough and based on your findings and understanding of unemployment and GDP.

Writing Style and Page Number Requirements

Font Type: Times New Roman or Arial

Font Size: 12

Spacing: Double

Number of Pages: Six to seven pages, along with a separate Title page and a separate References page

Outside Sources and TurnItIn Report

Using External Sources: When you use information, facts, or data from external source (articles, news, facts, etc.) in your case study, you must properly cite the sources you obtain the information from using the APA format. A link to APA writing style resources is provided at the bottom of this page.

Content Originality and TurnItIn: The majority of the text in your case study must be your own words, thoughts, opinion, interpretation, and/or viewpoints. The rule is that no more than 20% of the text in your case study can be from outside sources. Make sure you review the TurnItIn score next to your submitted document to verify that it meets the 20% (or less) requirements.

If your submitted case study receives a TurnItIn score (percentage) more than 20% on the report, this means that more than 20% of the content of your case study matches other’s work and is not original. In this situation, you will need to revise the matching text (or a portion of it) in your case study and then resubmit your assignment. Then recheck the new TurnItIn score.

To summarize, 80% or more of your final case study submission should be your own words and 20% or less can include properly cited outside sources. The TurnItIn originality report highlights the portions of the paper that are not original and closely matches another source.

Structure and Requirements

• Title Page
  • Title of the paper
  • Name of the author
  • E-mail address of the author
  • Class name
  • Professor’s name
  • Date
• Introduction

  Include the following in your introduction.

  • A clear definition of unemployment and how and why it rises and declines in the economy
  • Briefly provide your understanding of the relationship between economic growth (GDP growth), high/low unemployment, high/low wages, and the way they impact one another.
  • An overview of the current unemployment rates in the economy using facts and statistics (tables or graphs)
  • A brief description of the unemployment-related issue (topic) that you are going to address in this paper
• Data

  Obtain data from at least two credible sources (not Wikipedia) to provide facts about unemployment and wages and their growth pattern and their current statuses.

  • Obtain data about changes in unemployment rates for a period of 10 years.
  • Obtain historical data (10 years or more) about GDP growth rate (percentage) and Real GDP volume (in dollar value).
  • Obtain historical data (10 years or more) about the issue (topic) you are going to study in this paper, as well as data about its current status.

Use tables, graphs, and figures to support your argument. You can find the latest unemployment data at www.bls.gov (Links to an external site.) (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

• Analysis

  This section needs to contain the following discussions based on the data that was gathered and your understanding of unemployment and GDP.

  • Unemployment Rates: Discuss the trends of unemployment rates over the past 10 years and provide your objective analysis of the changes in unemployment and the current rates. Place extra emphasis on the periods where unemployment was either too high or too low (higher or lower than the natural rate of unemployment).
  • Issues (your choice): Discuss the unemployment-related issue. Provide an overview of the trends and use facts to highlight the major changes in the trends and the current status. State the reasons why you believe the issue you are analyzing represents a challenge for the economy.
• Conclusion and Solution

  This section needs to cover the following areas.

  • Highlight the causes of the issue that you selected and how it impacts the economy negatively and why it needs to be addressed by policy makers.
  • State your own solution. Basically, answer the following question.
    • What would you do to solve the issue you addressed if you were in charge of the U.S. economy? State why.
• Reference List

  Use at least three professional sources to support your argument. The references need to be in APA format. To learn more about APA format, click on the link below.

  APA Resource