Types of Unemployment (Cambridge (CIE) O Level Economics)

Revision Note

Types of Unemployment

  • It is possible to classify the causes of unemployment into three categories

  1. Structural unemployment occurs when there is a mismatch between jobs and skills in the economy

    • It usually happens as the structure of an economy changes e.g. the secondary sector is declining and the tertiary sector is growing

    • There is no longer a need for a specific type of worker e.g. ship builders in Glasgow

    • Many Western industries have relocated production to China causing structural unemployment in their economies

    • Unless workers receive help to retrain, they are often left unemployed or underemployed

  2. Cyclical unemployment is caused by a fall of total (aggregate) demand in an economy

    • This typically happens during a slow down or recession

    • At least one of the components of real gross domestic product (rGDP) is falling (consumption, investment, government spending or net exports)

    • The demand for labour is a demand derived from the demand for goods/services

    • As output falls in the economy, firms lay off workers 

  3. Frictional unemployment occurs when workers are between jobs

    • This is usually short-term unemployment

    • Workers have voluntarily left their previous job to search for another 

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