Exam 20: The Labor Market: Workers, Wages, and Unemployment

Government assistance to workers whose employment prospects have worsened is called:

One trend in labor markets is:

In the United States the real wages of the least-skilled, least educated workers have ________ and the wages of best-educated, highest skilled workers have ________.

The increase in wage inequality resulting from globalization can be reversed through:

If there is a floor on wages created by a minimum wage, union contracts, or other factors, then a decline in the marginal productivity of low-skilled workers will ________ the demand for low-skilled workers and ________ the number of unemployed workers.

The introduction of a new technology that increases the productivity of labor will:

The demand for labor depends on ________ and ________.

An increase in the size of the working-age population:

If the price of tables sold by All-Oak Table Co. decreases from $500 to $400, then the:

Larger increases in the demand for labor than in the supply of labor explain:

A long-term mismatch between the skills of some workers and the jobs available is a principal cause of ________ unemployment.

As the real wage decreases, the quantity of labor demanded ________ and the quantity of labor supplied ________.

An increase in the demand for workers producing computers for export versus producing agricultural products that can be imported more cheaply from abroad is an example of how increasing wage inequality can result from:

All of the following describe trends in U.S. labor markets except:

Most economists generally argue ________ trying to block technological advances because these technological advances ________.

One trend in labor markets is:

Initially, workers in the shoe industry and the computer industry earn the same wage. Reductions in trade barriers give domestic consumers access to cheaper shoes produced abroad, which causes domestic shoe prices fall. At the same time, foreign consumers purchase more computers, raising the relative price of computers. As a result of these changes, the demand for labor in the shoe industry ________ and the demand for labor in the computer industry ________.

The costs of unemployment are lowest (and perhaps even negative)for ________ unemployment.

Globalization ________ the wages of workers in the exporting industries and ________ the wages of workers in the import-competing industries.

Frictional unemployment occurs because: