Chapter 8: Questions 5, 9, 15

5.  Is the natural rate of unemployment
fixed?  Why or why not?  How are full employment and the natural rate
of unemployment related? Is the actual rate of unemployment currently greater
or less than the natural rate of unemployment? Why?

9.  What impact will high and variable rates of inflation
have on the economy? How will they influence the risk accompanying long-term
contracts and related business decisions?

15.  The following Table B presents the 2010
population, employment, and unemployment data among working age persons for
several countries.

a. Calculate
the number of people in the labor force for each country.

b. Calculate
the labor force participation rate for each country, and put the figures in the
blanks provided. Which country had the highest labor force participation rate?
Which country had the lowest?

c. Calculate
the unemployment rate for each country, and put the figures in the blanks
provided. Which country had the highest unemployment rate? Which had the
lowest? 

Country  Population   Number
Employed Number 
Rate
of Labor Force    Rate of Unemployment    (In
Millions)  (In Millions)    Unemployed    Participation (percentage) (Percentage)