Final answer:
Attrition occurs when employees who leave a company are not replaced. Unemployment can be categorized into cyclical, frictional, or structural, each reflecting different causes and characteristics. Polarization refers to the growing divide between high-end and low-end jobs, with fewer opportunities in the middle.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term attrition occurs when individuals who quit, die, or retire are not replaced in a workforce. This can occur due to various reasons, such as cost-cutting measures or a strategic decision to reduce staff. Attrition can impact an organization's operations, requiring existing employees to take on additional responsibilities or readjust their roles to maintain performance levels.
Moving onto unemployment types, landscapers laid off during a recession are experiencing cyclical unemployment, which is temporary and related to economic downturns. Coal miners laid off due to EPA regulations encounter structural unemployment, caused by shifts in the economy or changes in industry that make certain skills obsolete. A financial analyst moving between states is experiencing frictional unemployment, which involves a short-term transition between jobs. Printers laid off because of reduced demand for printed materials due to digital alternatives also face structural unemployment, as their skills are less in demand. Finally, factory workers laid off as production shifts to other countries are examples of structural unemployment because their jobs are moved out of the country, rendering their locations and possibly skills less relevant.
The practice where the differences between low-end and high-end jobs increase and the number of middle-level jobs decreases is called polarization. This can be a consequence of technological advancements and globalization, which lead to a decline in certain types of middle-skilled jobs.