Web Activity 1

Find the unemployment rate for your own age group, your gender, and your race or ethnicity at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can find this data at http://www.bls.gov Once you have accessed the site, find national employment and access the employment situation summary. Compare each rate with the overall U.S. unemployment rate. Using the type of unemployment described in the text of this chapter, explain why each unemployment rate differs from the overall unemployment rate.

Web Activity 2

What are the employment prospects in your chosen profession (or one that you might consider)? Find out at www.bls.gov/oco/ocoiab.htm. Look at the employment outlook. What factors will create jobs (or decrease the number of jobs) in this field?

Web Activity 3

Log on to www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/employment.html and click on the chart for civilian labor force (supply).

• By how much has the labor force (supply) grown since 1995?
• Using the same source, click on the chart for unemployment. During that same period, has the number of people unemployed increased or decreased?
• Are these two numbers inconsistent?