Bruger:Crudiant/sandkasse16: Forskelle mellem versioner

In [[economics]],''' '''labour is a measure of the work done by human beings. It is conventionally contrasted with such other [[factors of production]] as [[Land (economics)|land]] and [[Capital (economics)|capital]]. There are theories which have developed a concept called [[human capital]] (referring to the skills that workers possess, not necessarily their actual work).

 

There are two sides to labour economics. Labour economics can generally be seen as the application of [[microeconomics|microeconomic]] or [[macroeconomics|macroeconomic]] techniques to the labour market. Microeconomic techniques study the role of individuals and individual firms in the labour market. Macroeconomic techniques look at the interrelations between the labour market, the goods market, the money market, and the foreign trade market. It looks at how these interactions influence macro variables such as employment levels, participation rates, aggregate income and [[gross domestic product]].

 

==The macroeconomics of labour markets==

 

The [[labor force]] is defined as the number of people of [[working age]], who are either employed or actively looking for work. The '''participation rate''' is the number of people in the labour force divided by the size of the adult [[civilian noninstitutional population]] (or by the population of working age that is not [[Institutionalisation|institutionalised]]). The '''nonlabour force''' includes those who are not looking for work, those who are institutionalised such as in prisons or psychiatric wards, stay-at home spouses, children, and those serving in the military. The '''[[unemployment]] level''' is defined as the labour force minus the number of people currently employed. The '''unemployment rate''' is defined as the level of unemployment divided by the labour force. The '''employment rate''' is defined as the number of people currently employed divided by the adult population (or by the population of working age). In these [[statistics]], self-employed people are counted as employed.

* '''Demand deficient unemployment''' — In [[Keynesian economics]], any level of unemployment beyond the natural rate is most likely due to insufficient demand in the overall economy. During a recession, [[aggregate expenditure]], is deficient causing the underutilisation of inputs (including labour). Aggregate expenditure (AE) can be increased, according to Keynes, by increasing consumption spending (C), increasing investment spending (I), increasing government spending (G), or increasing the net of exports minus imports (X−M). <br /> {AD = C + I + G + (X−M)}

 

 

[[neoclassical economics|Neoclassical economists]] view the labour market as similar to other markets in that the forces of [[supply and demand]] jointly determine price (in this case the wage rate) and quantity (in this case the number of people employed).

 

===Neoclassical microeconomic model — Demand===

 

This article has examined the labour supply curve which illustrates at every wage rate the maximum quantity of hours a worker will be willing to supply to the economy per period of time. Economists also need to know the maximum quantity of hours an employer will [[demand]] at every wage rate. To understand the quantity of hours demanded per period of time it is necessary to look at product production: labour demand is a derived demand, it is derived from the output levels in the goods market.{{citation needed|date=June 2012}} Other aggregate methods of assessing demand include [[surveying|survey]] metrics and sources of [[real-time Labor Market Information]].

 

Wage differences exist, particularly in mixed and fully/partly flexible labour markets. For example, the wages of a [[doctor of Medicine|doctor]] and a port cleaner, both employed by the [[National Health Service (England)|NHS]], differ greatly. There are various factors concerning this phenomenon. This includes the MRP of the worker. A doctor's MRP is far greater than that of the port cleaner. In addition, the barriers to becoming a doctor are far greater than that of becoming a port cleaner. To become a doctor takes a lot of education and training which is costly, and only those who excel in academia can succeed in becoming doctors. The port cleaner however requires relatively less training. The supply of doctors is therefore significantly less elastic than that of port cleaners. Demand is also inelastic as there is a high demand for doctors and medical care is a necessity, so the NHS will pay higher wage rates to attract the profession.

 

==Information approaches==

In many real-life situations the assumption of perfect information is unrealistic. The firm does not necessarily know how hard a worker is working or how productive they are. This provides an incentive for workers to [[laziness|shirk]] from providing their full effort — since it is difficult for the employer to identify the hard-working and the shirking employees, there is no incentive to work hard and productivity falls overall, leading to more workers being hired and a lower unemployment rate.

 

There are many ways to overcome adverse selection in labour market. One important mechanism is called [[Signalling (economics)|signalling]], pioneered by [[Michael Spence]].<ref>{{cite journal |year=1973 |month= |title=Job Market Signaling |journal=[[Quarterly Journal of Economics]] |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=355–374 |jstor=1882010|doi=10.2307/1882010 |publisher=The MIT Press }}</ref> In his classical paper on job signalling, Spence showed that even if formal education does not increase productivity, high ability workers may still acquire it just to signal their abilities. Employers can then use education as a signal to infer worker ability and pay higher wages to better educated workers. It may appear to an external observer that education has raised the marginal product of labor, without this necessarily being true.

 

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Labour Economics}}