Underemployment Equilibrium
Categories: Econ
Not all equilibriums are good equilibriums. Take underemployment equilibrium, for example.
Underemployed folks are those who are working part-time or contract gigs when they would rather be working full-time, as well as workers whose skills are underutilized in their jobs. It’s when people have to settle for jobs that they don’t really want, because it’s not enough hours, or because it doesn’t match their skill set. (See: Underemployment.) Underemployment equilibrium is when the underemployment rate stays constant...a not-so-great thing for people. Plus, an underemployment equilibrium is likely to precede a recession if it’s negatively affecting GDP.
What’s a government to do about an underemployment equilibrium? Good question. Glad we asked.
Keynesians say “spend, spend, spend." Not surprising, as it's their answer for most problems. But hey, maybe they’ve got a point, since spending is what creates more business, higher GDP, and often more jobs.
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Finance: What is Above Full Employment E...20 Views
Finance a la shmoop what is above full employment equilibrium? question wouldn't
full employment mean that everyone who wants a job is employed wouldn't that be
full employment well no it's a government statistics so full isn't [Government worker in office]
really full it's you know full-ish and full is probably impossible anyway
because there will always be college students part-time uber drivers [Students graduating and uber driver appears]
derelicts and you know actors so when economists talk about full employment
they mean that everyone who is actively seeking work is generally finding work
but it recognizes that a lot of people have either given up the hunt and are
happy living on the equivalent of replacement value of you know 48 grand a [Woman at the desk of a cafe]
year of welfare or they're you know off the grid
well the equilibrium notion is the hard part to conceive here when "almost
every single living being" is employed it likely means that the
economy is on fire in the in the good way tons of demand for stuff tons of
shortages of labor and supplies and it also probably means that we have roaring
inflation which is generally bad there is a balance of employed and unemployed [employed and unemployed workers on a scale]
which makes for a stable set of parameters that keep the people employed
who want to be employed and it keeps inflation at small numbers such that old
people who generally retire on bonds aren't forced to live inhuman lives in
their station wagons parked on the side of the road because roaring inflation at
6% has made their 2 percent a year bond investment returns destroy most of the
buying power of their life savings belt historically economists have generally
targeted 95 percent as the full employment equilibrium number or 5
percent as the unemployment rate they're shooting for in other words at that
level there is low or just very modest inflation and the employment seeking [Man discussing employment equilibrium]
masses have generally found what they've been looking for you know like bono
turns out he was just looking for his car keys.... go figure..[Bono singing into microphone]