Has U.S. Attained Full Employment Following Recession?

Economists explain the recovery of job market from recession in terms of “full employment”. Full employment is a term that signifies that the number of job seekers is balanced by the number of job opportunities. Full employment is not exactly what it sounds like. It does not mean that the unemployment rate is zero. Unemployment is real and people have to leave their jobs for various personal reasons and there are those who lose their job due to companies closing down obsolete operations. In a healthy economy, economists say that the unemployment rate in the job market ranges between 4.6 percent and 5 percent. It is estimated that the national unemployment rate was 5% in December and it is predicted to decrease to 4.6% by July.

The balance attained and full employment achieved suggests that those looking for job opportunities will be able to find jobs and that employers looking to hire will find suitable employees too. The term full employment is subjective. While on the whole U.S. looks like it has achieved full employment, when looked at locally, there may be variations. For example, in Silicon Valley, California the unemployment rate is zero while the unemployment rate in West Virginia is as much as 13%. The unemployment rate is not only dependent on location but also varies based on age, qualification, cultural differences and gender.