首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Changes in the volume of unemployment are governed by three fundamental forces: the growth of the labor force, the increase in o
Changes in the volume of unemployment are governed by three fundamental forces: the growth of the labor force, the increase in o
admin
2014-03-02
41
问题
Changes in the volume of unemployment are governed by three fundamental forces: the growth of the labor force, the increase in output per man hour, and the growth of total demand for goods and services. Changes in the average hours of work enter in exactly parallel fashion but have been quantitatively less significant. As productivity rises, less labor is required per dollar of national product, or more goods and services can be produced with the same number of man—goods.
If output does not grow, employment will certainly fall; if production increases more rapidly than productivity (less any decline in average hours worked, employment must rise. But the labor force grows, too. Unless gross national product (total final expenditure for goods and services corrected for price changes) rises more rapidly than the sum of productivity increase and labor force growth (again modified for any change in hours of work), the increase in employment will be inadequate to absorb the growth in the labor force. Inevitably the unemployment rate will increase. Only when total production expands faster than the rate of labor force growth plus the rate of productivity increase and minus the rate at which average annual hours fall does the unemployment fall. Increases in productivity were more important than growth of the labor force as sources of the wide gains in output experienced in the period from the end of the war to the mid-sixties. These increases in potential production simply were not matched by increases in demand adequate to maintain steady full employment.
Except for the recession years of 1949, 1954, and 1958, the rate of economic growth exceeded the rate of productivity increase. However, in the late 1950s productivity and labor force were increasing more rapidly than usual, while the growth of output was slower than usual. This accounted for the change in employment rates.
But if part of the national purpose is to reduce and contain unemployment, arithmetic is not enough. We must know which of the basic factors we can control and which we wish to control. Unemployment would have risen more slowly or fallen more rapidly if productivity had increased more slowly, or the labor force had increased more slowly, or the hours of work had fallen more steeply, or total output had grown more rapidly. These are not independent factors, however, and a change in any of them might have caused change in the others.
A society can choose to reduce the growth of productivity, and it can probably find ways to frustrate its own creativity. However, while a reduction in the growth of productivity at the expense of potential output might result in higher employment in the short run, the long-run effect on the national interest would be disastrous.
We must also give consideration to the fact that hidden beneath national averages is continuous movement into, out of, between, and within labor markets. For example, 15 years ago, the average number of persons in the labor force was 74 million, with about 70 million employed and 3.9 million unemployed. Yet 14 million experienced some term of unemployment in that year. Some were new entrants to the labor force; others were laid off temporarily, the remainders were those who were permanently or indefinitely severed from their jobs. Thus, the average number unemployed during a year understates the actual volume of involuntary-displacement that occurs.
High unemployment is not an inevitable result of the pace of technological change but the consequence of passive public policy. We can anticipate a moderate increase in the labor force accompanied by a slow and irregular decline in hours or work. It follows that the output of the economy—and the aggregate demand to buy it—must grow by more than 4 percent a year just to prevent the unemployment rate from rising, and by even more if the unemployment rate is to fail further. Yet our economy has seldom, if ever, grown at a rate greater than 3.5 percent for any extended length of time.
We have no cause for complacency. Positive fiscal, monetary, and man power policies will needed in the future.
The author’s purpose in this passage is to ______.
选项
A、define the economic terms used in discussion of employment
B、criticize the decisions of past administrations during recession years
C、call for the application of positive economic control policies in the year that lie ahead
D、allay current fears about increasing unemployment
答案
C
解析
由全文可知,其余三项不符合文章意思,文章最后表明意思。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/kxQO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Ourtheoryandpracticeintheareaofsentencinghaveundergoneagradualbutdramaticmetamorphosisthroughtheyears.Primiti
Thelowoperatingcostsoftheforeigncompanywill______thehighlaborcoststhebusinesspaysinitsowncountry.
Sleepisanimportantpartofourlives.Wespendaboutone-thirdofourlivessleeping.Formillionsofpeople,【51】,gettingen
Overthepasttwodecades,teenagechildbearingintheUnitedStates—asmeasuredbythenumberofbirthstoteenagers—hasdecrea
Theworkthatwomendohasalwaysbeenfundamentaltotheglobaleconomy.Buttheircontributionhasn’tregisteredwithtraditio
Despitedecadesofscientificresearch,nooneyetknowshowmuchdamagehumanactivityisdoingtotheenvironment.Humansare
TherelationoftheearthonItsaxisisresponsibleforthe______ofperiodsoflightanddarkness.
CampaigningontheIndianfrontierisanexperiencebyitself.Neitherthelandscapenorthepeoplefindtheircounterpartsina
随机试题
老年社区照顾的特点有()。
阅读下面的古诗,回答问题。壬辰寒食王安石客思似杨柳,春风千万条。更倾寒食泪,欲涨冶城潮。巾发雪争出,镜颜朱早凋。未知轩冕乐,但
患者女性,28岁,4d前行剖宫产手术,术后出现头痛,伴恶心呕吐,立位时明显,卧位时减轻,头MRI未见异常。考虑诊断为
对于查验过程中由于海关工作人员责任造成的货物损失,进出口货物的收发货人或者其代理人可以要求海关就货物损坏的实际情况进行赔偿。但以下情况不属于海关赔偿的范围:
在施工图设计阶段,根据施工图纸确定的工程量,套用有关预算定额单价、取费率和利税率等编制()。
同其他税种相比,农业税具有以下显著特点()。
某学校开展“森林课堂”研学活动,通过让学生拿桶取水,倒量杯,用滤纸过滤,再用放大镜来观察等方式教学生探究自然。以下关于“森林课堂”研学活动的开展,不正确的是()。
透过车轮卷起的黄土,却见山野人秋,庄稼割过,静谧中含着一些寂静,只有阳光在切割过的根茬上烁烁闪亮。_______。填入横线上最恰当的是()。
在公共场所中常有各种各样的提示语,下列选项中,提示语使用最恰当的是:
以下关于编程语言的描述中,正确的是______。
最新回复
(
0
)