In this scene from 30 Rock, Liz Lemon is faced with the possibility that her job may become obsolete. She meets others (a travel agent, an American auto worker, a saxophone soloist) who are no longer employed because consumers are no longer willing to pay for their services/goods.
Thanks to James Tierney for the clip!
Adam Ruins Everything is a half-hour informational comedy were host, Adam Conover, debunks popular myths. Each episode is divided into 3 segments with some common theme. In the Spring of 2018, James Tierney and I sat down to go through all three seasons of Adam Ruins Everything to pick out examples in each episode that could be used in an economics course. If you’re curious about the paper, you can read about it here.
Adam reviews the requirements for individuals to be considered unemployment under the most traditional classification of unemployment (U3). While he mentions that this isn’t a perfect measure, he doesn’t mention the other types of unemployment. This could be a good introduction to the different types of unemployment counted by the BLS.
I heard this one on the radio and forgot that I used it one semester online to talk about structural unemployment. This could also be a good song to play before class if you play music before you begin your lecture. I may be a bit more fortunate since I teach in Pennsylvania.
Billy, played by Vince Vaughn, and Nick, played by Owen Wilson, are salesmen whose lost their jobs because of increased computerization. The two don’t want to be left behind so they apply (and are accepted) to an internship at Google even though they are much older than their cohort.
Bill Gates, in an article with Quartz, argues that if a robot which take workers’ jobs should be required to pay taxes. Those tax funds should be redistributed to pay for re-training programs.
Another great clip from the Marginal Revolution University team, but this time focused on the value of an education. Just like the robotization duel, I like to break this one down into multiple smaller clips and put clicker questions in the middle of them.
Structural unemployment occurs when the skills and trades are no longer in demand from the general population rather than market fluctuations. Adam’s girlfriend, Amy, quickly points out that his travel agency failed because people use the internet to book travel and no long need travel agents.
During the CNN GOP Debate in March, Donald Trump incorrectly categorizes discouraged workers as being statistically part of the employment rate because they are no longer considered unemployed. This classic mistake forgets that there are a class of people in the country who are not in the labor force.
From the PBS documentary series, American Experience. The subject is Henry Ford. This clip is about Henry Ford doubling the workers wage to $5 a day which revolutionize wages for the typical American worker.
3 part series dedicated to exploring the effects of the US’s highest minimum wage on area businesses.