For classes in week 5, we are looking in more detail at material covered in week 3’s lectures, and (to some extent) in week 4’s applications lecture, namely chapter 7 of Miles et al, Unemployment.

Maths Exercise

  1. Explain each step of the derivation of the natural unemployment rate model from the lecture. Justify the assumptions made.

Data Exercise

  1. Use https://www.nomisweb.co.uk to find information on unemployment benefits your local area:
    1. From https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/ click on 2011 Ward Profile.
    2. From the resulting page, input your home (or Reading) full postcode (e.g. OX11 6AQ) and click “Search”.
    3. From the resulting page look at “out-of-work benefits”.
    4. Do the numbers surprise you? Click to “compare other areas” to look at the wider local area.
    5. The nationwide claimant count for December 2014 was 2.6%. How does your local area compare? Why should we expect different unemployment patterns in different parts of the country?