Topic 5

The fifth main real-life topic is unemployment.

    This topic is particularly note-worthy to me, because before macroeconomics, I thought the word unemployed was meant for a person who simply did not have a job. In this course, I learned that there are many other factors, such as the factors that decide who is considered to be unemployed, who is considered to be employed, and what makes up the unemployment rate in our economy. While I personally have not been affected by this, as I am a full-time college student and working is not my priority at the moment, it is very important in the world, because it affects every single person whether they choose to believe that or not.

    

    Furthermore, it is affecting our world currently more than it has in recent years with the outbreak of COVID-19. Not all people's employment has been or will be affected by the virus, but before COVID-19, the unemployment rate in the United States was arguably the lowest it had ever been: 3.6%. As of recently, the unemployment rate in the United States rose to 4.4% (as of March 2020.) Below is an image to explain specifically how this number is determined.