ECONOMICS
UNEMPLOYMENT
INTRODUCTION
Great Depression unemployment….
Losing job, according to one study, is one of the most stresfull things in life (just
after death of spouse and going to prison).
STEP 1: Theoretical view
Definitions of unemployment;
Measuring unemployment;
Unemployment rate;
Costs of unemployment;
STEP 2: Intercultural analysis of unemployment
Ask students from different countries what they think the biggest
problems concerning the labor market in their country are.
Discussion with students and naming the most important factors.
o During discussion about specific issues in unemployment some of
these issues should arise: gender role, race, issues, ethnic groups,
religion, age etc.
Students divided into groups of three. They get a task of exploring
characteristics of labor markets in certain countries. They get different
countries to explore.
o Countries to explore will be: USA; western countries (for example
England, France, Italy, Germany, Scandinavian countries);
economies in transition (for example Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Serbia, ex Soviet Union countries, China); Asian countries.
QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS TO RESEARCH: (for each country they
get as a task)
unemployment rates;
differences in unemployment rates in different groups
in society;
causes of unemployment;
consequences of unemployment in the society
what policies in the country are used to fight the
unemployment.
Give students instructions how to do their research
o In their research students should focus on statistics of
unemployment, articles about specific features of their countries’
labor markets.
o In order to get this information they should visit web pages of
statistics agencies, different NGO’s, government web pages etc.
They must be able to present their results in the next lesson.
STEP 3: Presentations of students’ results
Each group of students presents results of their research to the others.
After they have all finished with presentations the whole class should
discuss the results and try to identify the cultural diversities across
countries concerning unemployment and dealing with it.
STEP 4: Combining theory and practice
Types of unemployment (structural, frictional, seasonal, cyclical);
Measures to deal with unemployment.
Discuss with students what certain countries do to deal with
unemployment and what could be done to resolve some of the problems
mentioned in students’ presentations.
Useful websites
- www.ilo.org
- national bureaus of statistics
- www.oecd.org
- http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
- national newspapers and magazines
- www.economist.com
- national ngo’s