Question

Difficulty: EasyDemographic Trends, Employment Types, and Skill Development Programs

Which type of unemployment is characterized by a situation where more workers are engaged in an economic activity than are required, such that the marginal productivity of additional workers is virtually zero?

  1. Disguised unemploymentAnswer
  2. B
    Structural unemployment
  3. C
    Frictional unemployment
  4. D
    Seasonal unemployment

Answer

Disguised unemployment is characterized by a situation where more workers are engaged in an economic activity than required, causing the marginal productivity of additional workers to be zero.
Disguised unemployment refers to a state in which more people are employed than are actually needed to complete a task. In this scenario, the marginal productivity of an extra worker is zero because total production remains unchanged even if some workers are withdrawn.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the conditions described in the stem (surplus workforce and zero marginal productivity).
Identified that removing excess workers would not reduce total production output.
This condition matches the classic definition of disguised unemployment, frequently observed in family-run agricultural holdings.

Key Concept

Disguised Unemployment and Marginal Productivity of Labor
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