Full-employment

Question

Define the "full-employment" or "natural" rate of unemployment and give its approximate percentage rate as economists currently define it.

Answer 1

This is the unemployment that exists in the economy even when it is at full employment. The latter does not mean that everyone in the labour force is employed. There will still be some people who are in the midst of changing jobs and are thus unemployed with a job letter in hand to join the new job at a later date. This is called frictional unemployment. It represents unemployment as a result of people switching jobs.