Labor Supply and Demand
CheckPoint: Historical Example of Labor Supply and Demand
Submit a 300-word response addressing one of the following historical events in terms of labor supply and demand: the Great Depression, the Luddite Revolt, the Black Death, or the technology boom of the 1990s. Include the following:
What was the impact on the supply and demand of labor on one sector of the labor market?
Explain the factors that affected labor demand and labor supply in the chosen historical example.
The Great Depression
During the time of the great depression demand for labor sky rocked but the supply of jobs decreased. The Law of Supply was the more the wages were for labor the more people would want to work. The Law of Demand was the higher the pay; fewer employees would be hired by employers. This was not the case during the great depression, the Law of Supply showed that the lower the wages went, the fewer the employees. During this time however, the employer’s response to lower pay was to hire even more workers, increasing the amount of employees they had and paying much lower wages. “Every market is governed by the Laws of Supply and Demand and can be illustrated in graphs to mark changes. The changes after the stock market crash in 1929 were so severe however, that the economy did not have the time or quite possibly the ability to self-correct”, (The Laws of Supply and Demand, Classical Economists, and the Great Depression). Basically during this very severe time of great depression the main problems were that employers were not hiring because their business were not doing good. Businesses like factories were not hiring workers because they saw no need to hire people to operate their machines if there were no goods being bought in the markets. No goods were being bought in the markets because there was such a high unemployment rate and people just did not have the money to buy the goods that these companies were manufacturing. No need for
Submit a 300-word response addressing one of the following historical events in terms of labor supply and demand: the Great Depression, the Luddite Revolt, the Black Death, or the technology boom of the 1990s. Include the following:
What was the impact on the supply and demand of labor on one sector of the labor market?
Explain the factors that affected labor demand and labor supply in the chosen historical example.
The Great Depression
During the time of the great depression demand for labor sky rocked but the supply of jobs decreased. The Law of Supply was the more the wages were for labor the more people would want to work. The Law of Demand was the higher the pay; fewer employees would be hired by employers. This was not the case during the great depression, the Law of Supply showed that the lower the wages went, the fewer the employees. During this time however, the employer’s response to lower pay was to hire even more workers, increasing the amount of employees they had and paying much lower wages. “Every market is governed by the Laws of Supply and Demand and can be illustrated in graphs to mark changes. The changes after the stock market crash in 1929 were so severe however, that the economy did not have the time or quite possibly the ability to self-correct”, (The Laws of Supply and Demand, Classical Economists, and the Great Depression). Basically during this very severe time of great depression the main problems were that employers were not hiring because their business were not doing good. Businesses like factories were not hiring workers because they saw no need to hire people to operate their machines if there were no goods being bought in the markets. No goods were being bought in the markets because there was such a high unemployment rate and people just did not have the money to buy the goods that these companies were manufacturing. No need for
References: 1. The Laws of Supply and Demand, Classical Economists, and the Great Depression, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/57112/the_laws_of_supply_and_demand_classical.html?cat=3 2. Chapter 13, The Cost of Productions, Principles of Economics,