You work for an unemployment agency that distributes unemployment checks to unemployed workers in California. Your boss recently learned that the Governorhas proposed a 21 percent increase in the state minimum wage, and wants you to provide her with an estimate of the number of additional workers who will file for unemployment compensation claims next year if the bill passes. Based on library research at a nearby university, you learn that about 1,000,000 workers are employed at the current minimum wage, while the number of unemployed workers at the current minimum wage equals 50,000.
Further library research turns up a study that reports a price elasticy of labor demand to equal -0.10, and a price elasticity of labor supply to be 0.10. Based on this information, provide an estimate of the number of unemployed workers that will result from a 21% increase in the minimum wage.