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The natural rate of unemployment is the name that was given to a key concept in the study of economic activity. Milton Friedman and Edmund Phelps, tackling this 'human' problem in the 1960s, both received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their work, and the development of the concept is cited as a main motivation behind the prize.
Okun's law is an empirical relationship. In Okun's original statement of his law, a 2% increase in output corresponds to a 1% decline in the rate of cyclical unemployment; a 0.5% increase in labor force participation; a 0.5% increase in hours worked per employee; and a 1% increase in output per hours worked (labor productivity).
Potential output has also been called the "natural gross domestic product." If the economy is said to be at a potential GDP level, the unemployment rate ostensibly equals the NAIRU (the "natural rate of unemployment").
This is because in the short run, there is generally an inverse relationship between inflation and the unemployment rate; as illustrated in the downward sloping short-run Phillips curve. In the long run, that relationship breaks down and the economy eventually returns to the natural rate of unemployment regardless of the inflation rate. [18]
Okun's law is based on regression analysis of U.S. data that shows a correlation between unemployment and GDP gap. Okun's law can be stated as: For every 1% increase in cyclical unemployment (actual rate of unemployment – natural rate of unemployment), GDP gap will decrease by β%. %GDP gap = −β x %Cyclical unemployment
Annual rate of change of unemployment rate over presidential terms in office. From President Truman onward, the unemployment rate fell by 0.8% with a Democratic president on average, while it rose 1.1% with a Republican. [27] Job creation is reported monthly and receives significant media attention, as a proxy for the overall health of the economy.
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Cyclical factors, such as government stimulus or austerity policies, cause the actual unemployment rate to vary around the natural rate. Economists debate the natural rate of unemployment. During February 2011, Federal Reserve economists estimated it may have increased from the historical rate of around 5% to as high as 6.7%.