Macroeconomic Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment

Macroeconomic Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment

CHAPTER 5

Arnold Economics, 6e / Ch. 5 Macroeconomics Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment©2004 South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning™ 2

Exhibit 1 Computing the Consumer Price Index

Arnold Economics, 6e / Ch. 5 Macroeconomics Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment©2004 South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning™ 3

Exhibit 2 CPI, 1913–2002 The CPI for 2002 is for May 2002.

Source: The data were reported at the Web site for the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Site address: http://stats.bls.gov/cpi/home.htm

Arnold Economics, 6e / Ch. 5 Macroeconomics Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment©2004 South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning™ 4

Exhibit 3 Inflation Rates, 2000, Selected Countries

Source: CIA World Factbook, 2001.

Arnold Economics, 6e / Ch. 5 Macroeconomics Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment©2004 South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning™ 5

Exhibit 4 Breakdown of the U.S. Population and the Labor Force

Arnold Economics, 6e / Ch. 5 Macroeconomics Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment©2004 South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning™ 6

Exhibit 5 Computation of the U.S. Unemployment Rate in April 2001

Arnold Economics, 6e / Ch. 5 Macroeconomics Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment©2004 South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning™ 7

Exhibit 6 Unemployment Rate, 2000, Selected Countries

Source: CIA World Factbook, 2001.

Arnold Economics, 6e / Ch. 5 Macroeconomics Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment©2004 South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning™ 8

Exhibit 7 The Wage Offer and Reservation Wage Curves

Arnold Economics, 6e / Ch. 5 Macroeconomics Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment©2004 South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning™ 9

Exhibit 8 Optimal Search Time

Arnold Economics, 6e / Ch. 5 Macroeconomics Measurements, Part I: Prices and Unemployment©2004 South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning™ 10

Exhibit 9 Optimal Search Time and the Unemployment Rate