Unemployment in the UK Economy
per cent of the labour force
people aged 16-59 (women) / 64 (men), seasonally adjusted
11
11
10
10
9
9
8
8
7
7
Labour Force Survey
6
6
5
5
4
4
Claimant Count
3
3
2
2
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
Source: Reuters EcoWin
Types of Unemployment
Read through the following examples and consider what type of unemployment (if any) is being
experienced in each. Choose from Cyclical / Structural / Frictional / Seasonal / Real Wage / Not
Counted as Unemployed
Situation
1
A worker loses his job at a factory which made refrigeration
components. The company closed the plant down because of an
inability to cope with lower-wage cost foreign competition.
2
Workers lose their jobs at a paper factory due to a steep downturn in
demand across the paper industry and an increase in energy costs.
3
A single mother who has been out of the workforce decides to start
looking again for part-time work when she finds that affordable child
care is available in her local town.
4
Employees at a brick manufacturer are laid off following a recession in
the housing market.
5
A newly qualified plumber opts to spend some time looking for a new
job rather than accept employment with a local business.
6
A number of journalists are made redundant when a magazine decides
to use copy from press agencies as a cost-cutting measure.
7
Newcastle Building Society announces it is to make 150 workers
redundant as a result of the downturn in the mortgage market.
8
A hotel decides to reduce the number of bar and restaurant staff
employed following an increase in the national minimum wage.
9
Eighty jobs are lost at the classified ads company Exchange & Mart
after the decision to cease print publication of the magazine and
continue with the magazine online.
10
A building firm lay off ten workers for three weeks and mothballs their
existing building sites because of harsh weather in the winter.
11
A former bank manager decides to leave her job and take early
retirement in order to look after an elderly relative.
12
A steel smelting plant closes and thirty workers with job specific skills
are forced to look for new work elsewhere in the locality.
Type of
Unemployment