Question

The unemployment rate is a vital statistic for measuring the health of our economy. The unemployment rate during the Great Depression was as high as 25%, resulting in a decline in real GDP of around 30%. Since that time, we have experienced rises/falls in the unemployment rate.

Visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics website linked here: http://www.bls.gov/cps/ (Links to an external site.)

Find the CURRENT US unemployment rate and the Alabama state-(State in the USA) unemployment rate and DESCRIBE THE CURRENT TREND IN UNEMPLOYMENT. I.E Compare Alabama state and USA unemployment rate

Answer 1

Unemployment is an important issue of economic development; this is the number of persons not working but searching for jobs actively.

Unemployment rate = (Number of persons not working but actively searching) / (Total labor force)

As per the current statistics of December 2017, the unemployment rates are as below:

USA = 4.1%

Alabama = 3.5%

Comparison: The US unemployment rate is all time low within last 17 years; but still it is higher than Alabama. The rank of Alabama in terms of unemployment rate among all other states is 16^th; such ranking is done from lower to higher rates. Since Alabama has lower unemployment rate, it has higher economic growth than the US. The current trend of unemployment rate in the US is decreasing; it happens because of expansionary policy of the Fed; but still it needs to decrease further in order to come closer to Alabama.