Week 5: Case Study Overview
Week 5 Case Study: Unemployment
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

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 (Links to an external site.)