How Does Unemployment Influence and Affect Economic Growth?
Unemployment and economic growth are dependent on one another in many ways, and oftentimes unemployment leads to slower economic growth. Since unemployment is very dependent on economic activity, when economic activity is high there is increased production and a healthy demand for individuals to help produce higher amounts of services and goods.
Unemployment is countercyclical, meaning that it increases with low economic growth and decreases when the economy begins to grow. An example of this pattern is the global recession that began in 2008 and led to unemployment of more than 200 million individuals, or 7 percent of the worldwide workforce. Many factors influence economic growth but can be divided into two primary groups: the demand side factors and supply side factors. Some factors that can affect economic growth, and therefore employment rates, include incomes and wages, value of exchange rates, asset prices, consumer confidence and interest rates.
