NYS Department of Labor - what type of unemployment do fed & government officials try to avoid most?
I'm taking an economics class and we're studying unemployment policy. My professor mentioned that there's one specific type of unemployment that federal and government officials really try to avoid but I missed which one it was. Does anyone know which type they're most concerned about? I know there's seasonal, frictional, structural, and cyclical unemployment but I can't remember which one policymakers worry about the most. This is for my midterm next week and I want to make sure I understand it correctly.
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Mohammad Khaled
Cyclical unemployment is the big one they try to prevent. That's when unemployment rises during economic downturns and recessions. It's different from the natural types like frictional (people between jobs) or seasonal (like holiday workers). Cyclical unemployment indicates the whole economy is struggling, which is why the Fed uses monetary policy to try to prevent it.
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Fiona Sand
•That makes sense! So cyclical is the bad one because it means the entire economy is in trouble, not just normal job turnover?
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Alina Rosenthal
Your professor is definitely talking about cyclical unemployment. The Federal Reserve specifically uses interest rates and other monetary tools to prevent this type because it signals economic recession. When I was unemployed in 2020, that was mostly cyclical - businesses shutting down due to economic conditions rather than normal job market changes. The NYS Department of Labor saw huge spikes in claims during that period.
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Finnegan Gunn
•Yeah I remember that time, the unemployment system was completely overwhelmed. Took forever to get through to NYS Department of Labor phone lines.
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Miguel Harvey
wait I thought structural unemployment was the worst one?? like when whole industries disappear because of technology changes? that seems worse than cyclical to me
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Mohammad Khaled
•Structural is serious long-term, but cyclical affects way more people all at once. Think about it - in a recession, unemployment can jump from 4% to 10% in months. That's millions of people suddenly needing benefits through systems like NYS Department of Labor.
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Miguel Harvey
•oh ok that makes more sense when you put it that way
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Ashley Simian
If you're dealing with unemployment claims yourself and having trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor agents, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helps you get through to them faster. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Really helped when I needed to check on my claim status last month.
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Fiona Sand
•Thanks but this is just for my economics homework, not an actual claim. Good to know for the future though!
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Oliver Cheng
Just to add - cyclical unemployment is what leads to those massive spikes in unemployment insurance claims that strain state systems. That's why prevention is so important from a policy perspective.
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