Global Journal of Human Social Science, E: Economics, Volume 21 Issue 4

Such residents are often referred to as discouraged workers and are not counted officially as "unemployed." The tendency to get on with life without work and exit the labour force, relatives, and friends or non-recorded economic activities is aggravated if it is made complex to obtain unemployment benefits. In macroeconomics, "underemployment" refers to excess unemployment, i.e., high unemployment relative to total employment or the Natural Unemployment Rate (NAIRU). We thus have underemployment equilibrium in Keynesian economics, whereby, Economists calculate the cyclically-adjusted full employment and unemployment rate at 4% or 6% regarded as normal and acceptable. The gap formed between potential output and the actual real GDP is what Okun's law calls the "GDP gap," showing the degree of Underemployment of labour which would be more significant if they incorporate the roles of underemployed labour, involuntary part-time worker, and discouraged workers. e) The Underusage of employed Labour The third definition of Underemployment is "overstaffing" or "hidden unemployment," whereby businesses or entire economies employ a workforce that is not maximally utilised and are not economically productive, or under-productive, or frugally inefficient, and categorised as underemployed because of legal or social restrictions on firing and lay-offs. For example, Union rules may have it that managers are to make a case to fire a worker to the Union who have to okay it before terminating the appointment of its member(s) or else management has to spend time and money fighting the Union. Secondly, some union members are overhead workers because the prevailing work is highly seasonal such as year-end account balancing or agriculture jobs. This type of Underemployment does not refer to works such as firefighters or lifeguards, who had to spend their working time watching and waiting for any rescue or emergency work to do. There are sufficient firefighters available in case of multiple cases. Underemployment may occur because of structural or cyclical details. In such industries insulated from competitive pressures, they will in most times, grow inefficient as they have government monopoly, e.g., telephone or electrical utilities, who may employ more workers than necessary and may have excess costs and low profits. In some countries, influential union leaders or labour legislature may force employers to retain excess employees. Japanese companies, for instance, retain workers who are committed to serving a company with long and loyal service on their payroll even at economic downturns. Centrally-planned economies discourage lay-offs as they would have periods when they may have more workers than needed to complete the organisation's tasks. Cyclical Underemployment refers to firms' tendency to maintain capacity utilisation and, therefore, maintain their demand for labour even at such times of economic depression. Underemployment of workers. It may be tolerated at such times, and may indeed be a wise business policy, given the financial cost and the degradation of morale from shedding and then re-hiring staff. In the short run, paying underused overhead workers is seen as an investment in their future contributions to its production. This kind of Underemployment has been the practice of Airbus, who gained market share from Boeing; who, unlike Airbus, had more flexibility, in that Boeing company cannot raise enough production when prosperous times returned because the company had laid off a significant part of its personnel in lean times. Another good example is the tourism sector, which faces cyclical demand for labour in areas where attractions are weather-related. For example, the sun and sand tours operated by Club Med Company can shed lifeguards, and sports instructors with other staff in the off-season, because there is such a strong demand amongst young people to work for the company, and it is a glamorous thing to be identified with her beachfront properties which are good workplaces. The tourism sector requires workers with unusual or hard-to-find skills. Northern Ontario hunting and fishing camps require skilled guides that may have an incentive to retain their staff in the off-season or else will lose any laid-off staff at odd times. Consequently, Companies that run tours for foreign tourists use staff that speaks the travellers’ native tongue and keep such staff off- season than totally losing them and find it difficult to recruit such staff at high-demand seasons. f) Definition of Terms Labour Force: This is the total population of an economy minus young people below a prescribed age (usually 15 years), older adults above a certain age (usually 65 years), people who were hospitalised or in mental institutions, full-time homemakers, and those unwilling to work, Labour force can then be referred to as total active population minus economically inactive population. Gross Domestic Product (GDP): This is the sum of the money value of output produced in that country (by its nationals and non-nationals) in a given period. If depreciation or capital consumption is detached from it, we have Domestic Net Products (DNP). Gross National Product (GNP): This is the money of the total output of goods and services produced by the nationals of an economy over time, usually one year. When capital consumption is deducted, we have Net National Product (NNP). Volume XXI Issue IV Version I 56 ( E ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2021 © 2021 Global Journals Which of these Economics Jargons - Underemployment, Overemployment, Unemployment, Rightemployment, Overqualification and Overeducation is Appropriate for an Economy?