Suppose there are 128 million people in the labor force, and 119 million of them have jobs. How many people in the labor force are likely to be counted as long-term unemployed?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The number of people in the labor force who are not employed are considered unemployed. Therefore, the number of people who are long-term unemployed would be the difference between the number of people in the labor force and the number of people who are employed.

Long-term unemployed = Number in labor force - Number employed
Long-term unemployed = 128 million - 119 million
Long-term unemployed = 9 million

However, the question asks for the number of people who are likely to be counted as long-term unemployed. Without additional information, we can assume that the official definition of long-term unemployed is those who have been actively seeking employment for 27 weeks or more. Therefore, we can estimate that approximately 16.7% of the 9 million unemployed individuals would be considered to be long-term unemployed.

Long-term unemployed = 9 million * 0.167
Long-term unemployed = 1.503 million

Therefore, the best choice is B) 1.5 million.

Suppose There Are 128 Million People in the Labor Force