Explain how each of the following affects the natural rate of unemployment: a . the introduction of unemployment programs that temporarily replace lost income for unemployed workers b. government funding for campus career placement centers that teach

students how to write resumes and interview, and that schedule and coordinate on-campus interviews with potential employers c. government legislation that mandates that large employers hold jobs for employees who leave to take care of infants or sick family members

a . These programs reduce the cost of remaining unemployed, and so tend to increase the natural rate of
unemployment by increasing the frictional component.
b. Career placement centers lower the costs of searching for a job and shorten the time that available
members of the labor force are unemployed. This lowers the natural rate of unemployment by
decreasing the frictional component.
c. This legislation allows workers to care for infants and sick family members without giving up their
jobs. Since these workers are less likely to leave the labor force, they won't have to return to the labor
force when they finish their duties at home and perhaps experience a period of frictional
unemployment. This reduces the natural rate of unemployment by reducing the frictional component.