Question 20N.1.HL.TZ0.4a
| Date | November 2020 | Marks available | [Maximum mark: 10] | Reference code | 20N.1.HL.TZ0.4a |
| Level | HL | Paper | 1 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | Explain | Question number | a | Adapted from | N/A |
Explain why measuring unemployment in a country is difficult.
[10]
Marks should be allocated according to the paper 1 markbands for May 2013 forward, part A.
Answers may include:
- definition of unemployment
- a diagram is not required for full marks, but candidates may use a labour market diagram, AD/AS diagram or Phillips curve diagram
- explanation of the challenges in measuring the exact number of people of working age who are without work, available for work and actively seeking work, resulting in inability to assess the underemployment/the hidden unemployment and the unreported employment in the informal(underground) economy
- examples of specific cases or countries where there is unemployment that may be difficult to measure.
Candidates were generally able to explain the problems with measuring unemployment but had difficulties explaining these problems in economic terms and categorizing them according to whether they lead to underestimation or overestimation of the unemployment rate. Some candidates pointed out that the average unemployment rate for an economy ignores regional, ethnic, age and gender disparities but this was not considered relevant and candidates received no credit for this part of their answer since this is a problem of using the average rate to make judgements about the state of the economy and not a problem of measuring unemployment (government statisticians do use the surveys of the labour force to measure and provide data about the unemployment rates for different regions, age groups, genders and levels of education).
