A country's labor force is the sum of the number of employed and unemployed workers. The accompanying table provides data on the size of the labor force and the number of unemployed workers for different regions of the United States.
|
Region
|
Labor force (thousands)
March 2007 March 2008
|
Unemployed(thousands)
March 2007 March 2008
|
|
Northeast
|
27,863.5
|
28,035.6
|
1,197.8
|
1,350.3
|
|
South
|
54,203.8
|
54,873.9
|
2,300.9
|
2,573.8
|
|
Midwest
|
34,824.3
|
35,048.6
|
1,718.2
|
1,870.8
|
|
West
|
35,231.8
|
35,903.3
|
1,588.0
|
1,914.4
|
a. Calculate the number of workers employed in each of the regions in March 2007 and March 2008. Use your answers to calculate the change in the total number of workers employed between March 2007 and
March 2008.
b. For each region, calculate the growth in the labor force from March 2007 to March 2008.
c. Compute unemployment rates in the different regions of the country in March 2007 and March 2008.
d. What can you infer about the rise in unemployment rates over this period? Was it caused by a net loss in the number of jobs or by a large increase in the number of people seeking jobs?