If the number of people classified as unemployed is 50,000 and the number of people classified as employed is 250,000, what is the unemployment rate?

8 percent

16.17 percent

11.5 percent

8.7 percent

1 answer

To calculate the unemployment rate, you can use the following formula:

\[ \text{Unemployment Rate} = \left( \frac{\text{Number of Unemployed}}{\text{Total Labor Force}} \right) \times 100 \]

The total labor force is the sum of the number of employed and unemployed individuals.

Given:

  • Number of unemployed = 50,000
  • Number of employed = 250,000

First, calculate the total labor force:

\[ \text{Total Labor Force} = \text{Number of Employed} + \text{Number of Unemployed} = 250,000 + 50,000 = 300,000 \]

Now, apply the formula for the unemployment rate:

\[ \text{Unemployment Rate} = \left( \frac{50,000}{300,000} \right) \times 100 = \left( \frac{1}{6} \right) \times 100 \approx 16.67% \]

However, the closest option provided to \( \frac{1}{6} \) is:

16.17 percent.

So the unemployment rate is approximately 16.17 percent.