Hello,

Here is the discussion criteria:

Come on now, get a job. In this activity, you will select a country and explore the concepts of unemployment and the phases of the business cycle as it relates to the economic well being of your selected country.

Locate a recent article (published within the last year) that addresses the unemployment theory and unemployment rate of your selected country.

You can use the Hunt Library, newspapers, new stations, or other credible sources to locate an article. Analyze your selected country’s unemployment rate and how the key economic indicators align with the current phase of the business cycle. Include the following in your discussion.

• Identify how unemployment is calculated.
• Describe the different types of unemployment and state which type of unemployment you believe impacts your chosen country the greatest.
• State your selected country’s unemployment rate.
• Discuss the four phases of the business cycle.
• Align the current phase of the business cycle with your selected country.

Summarize your findings using at least 250 words and provide a minimum of one reference. Use current APA formatting to document your sources.

The following is an announcement the instructor posted for this discussion. Thanks

The key step in discussion 5 is: “Locate a recent article (published within the last year) that addresses the unemployment theory and unemployment rate of your selected country.

You can use the Hunt Library, newspapers, new stations, or other credible sources to locate an article.

THIS MEANS A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE. Do not use Investopedia or the balance Blogs

The question posed by the discussion:

Analyze your selected country’s unemployment rate and how the key economic indicators align with the current phase of the business cycle. Include the following in your discussion.

The discussion sets out these required issues to be defined or answered in your post. These are not in logical order as you can tell. Include them, identify them but make sure you place them in logical order.

• Identify how unemployment is calculated.

This is Part 1 and you use the text standard definition which requires you to use the concept of the labor force and how is a person identified (defined) as being unemployed.

• Describe the different types of unemployment and state which type of unemployment you believe impacts your chosen country the greatest.

The standard for classifying why a person is unemployed is the 3 types of unemployment: cyclical, frictional and structural. These change with the business cycle and demographics and changing demand for economic skills. The US has seen each of these categories change in importance through the decades since the 1960’s.

• State your selected country’s unemployment rate.

This should be logically placed somewhere in your answer.

• Discuss the four phases of the business cycle.

This is Part 2. Use the Exhibit 7 Graph and definitions per text. BUT PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE LINE LABELED GROWTH TREND IN REAL GDP. This is the long run trend in economic growth. In the graph, Arnold has the actual level of GDP increasing. But the current standard is to use the percentage rate of growth. That is what you see in the Official US Agency’s quarterly reports. The current widely accepted long term real GDP growth rate in the US is 2%. NOTICE that the stages of recovery and expansion are defined relative to the long run trend line (percentage) in real GDP

• Align the current phase of the business cycle with your selected country.

Using the Exhibit 7 graph and the resulting definitions of the different growth zones, state where your country is in the possible phases of the business cycle.

Key facts, which you will need in order to decide where you are in this cycle, is a validly supported, authoritative value for what is the long term “Growth Trend in Real GDP” and the currently reported Real GDP growth rate.

See the blue line in the graph below.

Whether you are above or below the trend line or on it tells you where you are in the business cycle. Consequently, using the recently reported figure in current GDP growth and comparing that to an authoritatively reported value of the long term growth trend allows you to answer this question.

THIS GRAPH IS FROM THE ARNOLD POWER POINTS FOR THIS WEEK’S Materials posted IN CANVAS.