Question

Assess whether the following would be counted as “unemployed” in the Current Employment Statistics survey.

a. A husband willingly stays home with children while his wife works.

b. A manufacturing worker whose factory just closed down.

c. A college student doing an unpaid summer internship.

d. A retiree.

e. Someone who has been out of work for two years but keeps looking for a job.

f. Someone who has been out of work for two months but isn’t looking for a job.

g. Someone who hates her present job and is

actively looking for another one.

h. Someone who decides to take a part-time job because she could not find a full-time position.

Short answer

They are classified as per BLS rules.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1. Definition

Unemployed is a person who is constantly looking for a job or work and he/she is also capable of doing work but don’t able to get a job then they are unemployed.

Step 2. Part(a)

In this situation, the husband is not unemployed because in unemployment a person is willing to do work and constantly looking for it. But here the husband is not willing to do work he wanted to stay at home.

Step 3. Part (b)

Here the worker's factory is closed down. So, if he is willing to work then he is unemployed but if he is not willing to do work then he is not unemployed.

Step 4. Part(c)

The student is doing an unpaid internship so he/she is unemployed because he is giving services but is not paid for them given the situation that he is willing to work.

Step 5. Part(d)

Here the retiree is unemployed but not in the labor force because he crosses the workforce age bracket.

Step 6. Part(e)

In this situation, the person is unemployed as he is looking for a job for two years but till now has not found one. Also, we can call him underemployed also.

Step 7. Part(f)

Here the person is not unemployed because of the reason that he is not looking for work or a job.

Step 8. Part(g)

She is not categorized as unemployed because she is already employed and being paid for it, whether she hates her current job and looking for another one.

Step 9. Part(h)

No, he/she is not unemployed because they take up a part-time job and according to BLS a person who is even doing part-time job is employed.