Theory of economics

Labor, unemployment and inflation.

The relationship between inflation and unemployment has traditionally been an inverse correlation. However, this relationship is more complicated than it appears at first glance and has broken down on a number of occasions over the past 45 years. Since inflation and (un)employment are two of the most closely monitored economic indicators, we'll delve into their relationship and how they affect the economy.

Labor Supply and Demand. If we use wage inflation, or the rate of change in wages, as a proxy for inflation in the economy, when unemployment is high, the number of people looking for work significantly exceeds the number of jobs available. In other words, the supply of labor is greater than the demand for it.

With so many workers available, there's little need for employers to "bid" for the services of employees by paying them higher wages. In times of high unemployment, wages typically remain stagnant, and wage inflation (or rising wages) is non-existent.

In times of low unemployment, the demand for labor (by employers) exceeds the supply. In such a tight labor market, employers typically need to pay higher wages to attract employees, ultimately leading to rising wage inflation.

Over the years, economists have studied the relationship between unemployment and wage inflation as well as the overall inflation rate.

Unemployment is a term referring to individuals who are employable and seeking a job but are unable to find a job. Furthermore, it is those people in the workforce or pool of people who are available for work that does not have an appropriate job. Usually measured by the unemployment rate, which is dividing the number of unemployed people by the total number of people in the workforce, unemployment serves as one of the indicators of an economy’s status.

The term “unemployment” can be tricky and often confusing, but it certainly includes people who are waiting to return to a job after being discharged. However, it does not anymore encompass individuals who have stopped looking for a job in the past four weeks due to various reasons such as leaving work to pursue higher education, retirement, disability, and personal issues. Even people who are not actively seeking a job anywhere but actually want to find one are not considered unemployed.

Interestingly, people who have not looked for a job in the past four weeks but have been actively seeking one in the last 12 months are put into a category called the “marginally attached to the labor force.” Within this category is another category called “discouraged workers,” which refers to people who have lost all their hope of finding a job.