Unemployment types and causes
There are several types of unemployment, each one defined in terms of cause and severity.
Cyclical
Cyclical unemployment exists when individuals lose their jobs as a result of a downturn in aggregate demand (AD). If the decline in aggregate demand is persistent, and the unemployment long-term, it is called either demand deficient, general, or Keynesian unemployment. For example, unemployment levels of 3 million were reached in the UK in the last two recessions, between 1980 and 1982, and between 1990 and 1992. In the most recent recession of 2008-2010, unemployment levels rose to 2.4m in the last quarter of 2009, and are likely to peak at over 2.5m during 2010. (Source: ONS).
Demand deficienct unemployment
This is caused by a lack of aggregate demand, with insufficient demand to generate full employment.
Structural
Structural unemployment occurs when certain industries decline because of long term changes in market conditions. For example, over the last 20 years UK motor vehicle production has declined while car production in the Far East has increased, creating structurally unemployed car workers. Globalisation is an increasingly significant cause of structural unemployment in many countries.
Regional
When structural unemployment affects local areas of an economy, it is called ‘regional’ unemployment. For example, unemployed coal miners in South Wales and ship workers in the North East add to regional unemployment in these areas.
Classical
Classical unemployment is caused when wages are ‘too’ high. This explanation of unemployment dominated economic theory before the 1930s, when workers themselves were blamed for not accepting lower wages, or for asking for too high wages. Classical unemployment is also called real wage unemployment.
Seasonal
Seasonal
unemployment exists because certain industries only produce or
distribute their products at certain times of the year. Industries where
seasonal unemployment is common include farming, tourism, and
construction.
Frictional
Frictional
unemployment, also called search unemployment, occurs when workers
lose their current job and are in the process of finding another one.
There may be little that can be done to reduce this type of
unemployment, other than provide better information to reduce the
search time. This suggests that full employment is impossible at any
one time because some
workers will always be in the process of changing jobs.
Voluntary
Voluntary unemployment is defined as a
situation when workers choose not to work at the current equilibrium
wage rate. For one reason or another, workers may elect not to
participate in the labour market. There are several reasons for the existence of voluntary
unemployment including excessively generous welfare benefits and high rates
of income tax. Voluntary unemployment is likely to occur when the equilibrium wage rate is below the wage
necessary to encourage individuals to supply their labour.
The natural rate of unemployment
This is a term associated with new Classical and monetarist economists. It is defined as the rate of unemployment that still exists when the labour market it in equilibrium, and includes seasonal, frictional and voluntary unemployment. The US economist Milton Friedman first used the concept to help explain the connection between unemployment and inflation. Friedman argued that if unemployment fell below the natural rate there would be an increase in the rate of inflation.
See also: the Phillips Curve.
The main
reasons are:
- Globalisation
and the rise of new ‘low cost’ overseas competitor countries.
- Increased
competition within the domestic product market.
- The
increasing
comparative advantage of the UK as an international
supplier of financial services.
Structural unemployment and labour mobility
There are three types
of labour immobility:
Geographical immobility
Geographical immobility occurs when workers are not willing or able to move from region to region, or town to town. Geographical mobility is made worse by immense house price variation between regions. It may be extremely difficult for workers in Yorkshire to sell their home and buy an equivalent one in London.
Other factors also contribute to geographical immobility, such as strong social and family ties, and parents being unwilling to disrupt their children’s education by changing schools. The stresses of moving home can also be a deterrent to mobility for some.
Industrial immobility
Industrial immobility occurs when workers do not move between industries, such as moving from employment in motor industry to employment in the insurance industry. Industrial immobility has affected the UK, and many other industrial countries, as the growth of service industries, and the decline of manufacturing industries, has increased the need for mobility.
Occupational immobility
Occupational immobility occurs when workers find it difficult to change jobs within an industry. For example, it may be very difficult for a doctor to retrain to be a dentist.
Industrial and occupation immobility are most likely to happen when
skills are not transferable between industry and job.
Information failure also contributes to labour immobility
because
workers may be immobile because they do not know where all the suitable
jobs for them are.
A
resulting problem with labour market immobility is that it can create
regional unemployment, which is a type of
structural unemployment.
This means that a change in the structure of industry leaves some people
unable to respond by changing job, industry, or location and as a result,
they
remain temporarily or permanently unemployed.
Immobility can also lead to rising labour costs, as firms have to
increase wages to encourage workers to re-locate.
Labour market or government failure?
New
Classical economists would tend to see structural unemployment as an example of
government failure. Labour markets do not clear, they argue, because
wages are not allowed to adjust effectively, and the price mechanism is
distorted. By removing distortions and imperfections in the labour
market workers would move more quickly from job to job.
For example,
by keeping welfare benefits to a minimum there is an incentive to
retrain and look for paid work. Welfare benefits can trap individuals
into a life of unemployment because of the effects of
moral hazard and
the disincentive effect it creates. This increases labour
immobility,
and hence contributes to structural unemployment.
However,
labour immobility can also be addressed from the perspective of labour
market failure. Training and re-training are regarded as
merit
goods, where individuals under perceive the long term benefit to
themselves. They also fail to appreciate the positive externalities that
training and re-training generate for the wider community. This means
that there is a significant role for the state in providing free or
subsidised training and retraining programmes.
In addition, there is the potential situation of labour market poaching. Why should a firm in the booming service sector provide free training to a displaced worker from the manufacturing sector if the worker will leave for another job shortly after training? Why should firms do any training at all if they believe that workers will be poached by higher wages? The poacher can, of course, afford to pay higher wages because of savings in training costs.