Purpose: Increase understanding of the economic concepts of unemployment, labor
Purpose: Increase understanding of the economic concepts of unemployment, labor force participation, and inflation; practice research techniques to pull current and historical data; and then connect the changes in data to possible real-world causes.
Task: Working individually, each student will investigate the macroeconomic variables for one state in the USA in order to compare current levels to those of the past. Type up a 4-5 paragraph (minimum of 4-5 sentences each) essay. Be sure to include a citation for all sources used. Upload your original work as a Word.doc or PDF into the Go View Assignment dropbox.
Selection of State: You may select any state (other than Georgia) that starts with a letter that is closest to the first letter of your last name. Examples: . A student with the last name of Matthews could select one of 8 states that all begin with the letter M. 2. A student with the last name of Bowen would have 7 options: selecting either one of the A letter states or one of the C letter states. If you have questions regarding if a state fits these parameters, please contact your instructor.
Criteria: Select at least one macroeconomic variable to explore for your state (level of unemployment, employment trends, labor force participation, inflation, etc.). Any variable that has been covered here in U
nit 4 (or our previous units) is fine to include.
Using sources such as the. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2. FRED: Economic Data by the St. Louis Fed, or other reliable resources (you will need to include a listing of sources used; so be sure to save information on each one you use), provide the current data (with current defined as within the past 2 months) and then compare to historical trends.
Questions to consider include:
. What is the current unemployment rate for your state? How has it changed in the past 5 or 0 years? What is at least one potential cause for the changes your state saw in unemployment over the past 5-0 years?
2. What is the current labor force participation rate for your state? How has it changed in the past 5 or 0 years? What may have caused the changes? What is at least one potential cause for the changes your state saw in labor force participation over the past 5-0 years?
3. What was the inflation rate for your state for the past year? How has it changed in the past 5 or 0 years? What is at least one potential cause for the changes your state saw in prices over the past 5-0 years?
4. What changes in industry has your state experienced in the past 0 years? How might new firms entering your state or firms leaving impacted the employment trends in your state?
Side note (since my last name starts with a W, maybe do a state such as Wisconsin, or Wyoming).
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