Assignment:
Introduction
In this paper, you will apply what you have learned to the firm or business you selected in order to see how the concepts can be applied to a business situation.
Keep in mind that throughout this course, papers are intended to bring real-world situations to the course material that we are covering each week. Part of your grade will depend on the connections you make between your chosen firm (which could include the economic environment of your chosen firm, the markets in which your chosen firm interacts with outside actors, the decisions your chosen firm makes, etc., depending on the particular question) and the material from the chapters we covered.
Activity Instructions
Go to the St. Louis Fed FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) website (linked in the Resources section above) and search for "unemployment". You can also find unemployment data (and many other data series) by clicking on "Categories", then "Population, Employment & labor Markets" and then "Current Population Survey (Household Survey). Finally, click on "Unemployment Rate". For either method, select the "Civilian Unemployment Rate" and you should see a graph of the U3 unemployment rate.
Given the data that you found, what business decisions might the firm you chose in Week 1 make? How would their hiring decisions be affected? What quality of employees might they be able to obtain, and how much would they have to pay their new employees to attract willing employees?
Might your chosen firm need to adjust the price of their output? Should they increase or decrease their output, or should they maintain the same level of production? Why? Are there other changes to the business environment that could affect your firm's decisions or profitability (perhaps relating to other competing businesses or suppliers to the market in which your firm produces)?
If this was 1995-2000, or 2005-2007 (and you only had data through either 2000 or 2007), how would you answer those questions? What if this was 2010-2011?
Writing Requirements (APA format)
- 1.5 to 2 pages (approx. 300 words per page), not including title page or references page
- 1-inch margins
- Double spaced
- 12-point Times New Roman font
- Title page with topic and name of student
Readings:
Unemployment
By Gregory Mankiw