Final answer:
College graduates actively looking for a job are experiencing frictional unemployment, which is common among new entrants to the workforce and those transitioning between jobs.
Step-by-step explanation:
Students who have graduated from college and are actively looking for a job are typically experiencing frictional unemployment. Frictional unemployment occurs when individuals are temporarily unemployed while transitioning from one job to another or entering the workforce for the first time, as in the case of recent college graduates. This type of unemployment is considered a normal part of a healthy economy, as it includes people voluntarily changing jobs and new entrants, like graduates, looking for employment that matches their skills and preferences.
Let's explore other types of unemployment through provided examples:
- Cyclical unemployment is exemplified by landscapers who are laid off due to a recession impacting the housing construction industry. It is tied to the business cycle and rises during economic downturns.
- Structural unemployment occurs when there is a mismatch between the skills of job seekers and the needs of employers. Coal miners laid off due to new regulations and printers who lost jobs because of a shift to digital promotion are experiencing structural unemployment, as their skills no longer fit the changing job market.
- If factory workers are laid off because their jobs are moved to Mexico or Ireland, it is also an instance of structural unemployment due to geographical shifts in employment opportunities.
- A financial analyst moving from Chicago to Arizona and looking for a new job would be experiencing frictional unemployment as well, as they are between jobs by choice.