Question

Suppose that some country had an adult population of about 50 million, a labor-force participation rate of 60 percent, and an unemployment rate of 5 percent. How many people were employed?
a. 30 million
b. 28.5 million
c. 47.5 million
d. 1.5 million

Answer 1

To find out how many people were employed, we can follow these steps:

1. **Calculate the labor force**:
The labor force is the portion of the adult population that is either working or actively looking for work.

\[
\text{Labor Force} = \text{Adult Population} \times \text{Labor-Force Participation Rate}
\]
\[
\text{Labor Force} = 50,000,000 \times 0.60 = 30,000,000
\]

2. **Calculate the number of unemployed**:
The unemployment rate tells us the percentage of the labor force that is unemployed.

\[
\text{Number of Unemployed} = \text{Labor Force} \times \text{Unemployment Rate}
\]
\[
\text{Number of Unemployed} = 30,000,000 \times 0.05 = 1,500,000
\]

3. **Calculate the number of employed**:
The total number of employed can be found by subtracting the number of unemployed from the labor force.

\[
\text{Number of Employed} = \text{Labor Force} - \text{Number of Unemployed}
\]
\[
\text{Number of Employed} = 30,000,000 - 1,500,000 = 28,500,000
\]

Thus, the number of employed people is **28.5 million**.

The answer is **b. 28.5 million**.