Unemployment in America: Who's Hit Hardest and Would Economic Growth Change That?

This activity is suitable for principles courses.
Students will learn beforehand the definition of Unemployment.
There are no class size limitations.
Twenty minutes are needed for the activity, which does not extend over another period.
This activity is not linked to another TBL activity.

Overview

Unemployment, by definition, is a type of market failure, which also means it is something economic policy might address. Before beginning this activity, students learn the precise definition of unemployment and some of the thinking behind that definition, which excludes people who have left the labor force. Students then consult BLS data to discover which subgroups of the population have the highest unemployment rates. As they see that African-Americans 16-19 years old have the highest unemployment rates of any group the BLS measures, they could discuss if this corresponds to their own knowledge of how our labor markets operate, and what might account for this.
We then ask, if the American economy experiences a period of strong growth, what would they expect to happen to African-American teen unemployment rates?

Expected Student Learning Outcomes

In this activity, students learn to use BLS unemployment data.

Students learn to connect the data with economic policy; in particular, they can answer the question, does a growing economy help everyone?

Information Given to Students

Students will look at data online at: https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat03.htm
They will receive this prompt: We see that African Americans 16-19 years old experience the highest unemployment rates in our economy, but how might that change If we had a period of strong economic growth?

A)Teen African American unemployment would fall faster than any other group's rate.
B)Teen African American unemployment would not improve much.
C)Teen African American unemployment might increase.
D)Whether this group's rates increase or decrease depends on the sectors of the economy seeing growth.

Student teams have been asked to predict what would happen to high unemployment rates for African American teens if the economy were growing at a fast rate. Students might push for answer A), arguing that it would take less effort/expense for employers to hire these unemployed teens than hiring away already-employed older workers from their jobs. Or they could use the old metaphor of the rising tide floating all boats. (It's often useful to remind students that a rising tide will only float those boats that are in good shape.) Students arguing for B) might say that employers looking for more workers will persist in ignoring these available teens–perhaps because of racism, or because they had never employed African Americans. Students might try to argue C), that African American unemployment would go up, since high growth rates might spur automation of low skill jobs, which are what teens are hired for. Answer D) encourages a nuanced approach to economic growth, which is usually uneven and can have different impacts on pink collar, blue collar, or white collar jobs, skilled vs. unskilled jobs, and sectoral impacts.
The instructor might give some background to students about why unemployment is defined the way it is and discuss additional measures the BLS has added to make their data more useful. In the debrief/summary, the professor might link different theories for the existence of unemployment, to what the data has revealed (ie, the minimum wage/youth unemployment), and whether the idea of a growing economy lifting everyone up has any historical basis.

Essay: If you were going to design a policy to reduce teen African American unemployment rates, name three policies or programs you would propose.