Case Study: Macroeconomic Challenges: Unemployment and Inflation

This assignment is broken in to three parts.
• Part I (Intro and Data): Due in Week 5
• Part II (Analysis and Solution): Due in Week 6
• Part III (Presentation)
Overview
A high unemployment rate in any economy is a symptom of dysfunctionality in the economy. People need income to consume, and consumption leads to production, and production leads to higher demand for labor (employment), so unemployment is a crucial macroeconomic issue that confronts all modern economies. A lower unemployment rate, however, is not the end of the problem. The type of employment and the price of labor (wages) have to be sufficient in order for consumption (which is the major component of GDP) in the economy to be healthy. If wages are low or if the prices in the economy are high, consumption would be low and thus, production and demand for labor would be low, too. High unemployment rate, high part-time employment rate for economic reasons, low wages, and high inflation could have negative effects on economic growth.
Assignment Description
In this assignment, you need to identify two main issues related to unemployment and inflation. Then you are going to study their past trends, provide an overview of their current status, and provide solutions to overcome them. You will use data, articles, experts’ opinions, and government reports to draw a clear picture of the current unemployment and inflation issues.
Some areas you might consider are (you could also choose different topics) the following.
• Part-time employment rates for economic reasons
• Unemployment rates among young college graduates
• Unemployment rates by gender
• Unemployment rates among Black and Hispanic communities
• Low supply of labor (professionals) in certain industries
• High supply of labor in education
• Low wages by profession and their causes
• Low demand for labor in some industry (you could choose whatever industry you wish)
• Low wages in some parts of the country
• High unemployment rate among workers with high school diploma or less
• The increase in the price of housing and its effect on investment
• The increase in the price of healthcare and education and their effect on consumption
Your research needs to be structured with consistent and clear thoughts. It also needs to be supported by facts and data. Your results need to be based on solid facts. Your conclusion and recommended solution need to be thorough and based on your findings and understanding of macroeconomic challenges and macroeconomic policies
Important Note:
The case study itself is a one assignment that is broken into two parts over two weeks. Part I is due in Week 5 and Part II (including Part I from Week 5) is due in Week 6.
The final and complete case study submission that is due in Week 6 must contain the portion of the assignment that was due in Week 5. In other words, the final assignment that is due in Week 6 must contain the following sections: (1) Introduction (2) Data (3) Analysis (4) Reflection (5) Solution (6) References.
The References should include a minimum of five sources in the final Week 6 submission. As an example, 3 sources could have been used in the Week 5: Part I assignment and 2 or more additional sources could have been used for the Week 6: Part II assignment, equaling 5 or more total professional sources in the final combined References page. Note that all references used for Week 5: Part I should be included in your Week 5 submission and in your Week 6 submission.

Part III: Due in Week 6

Presentation
Submit a presentation of your Week 6 Macroeconomic Challenges Case Study. Review the requirements below and follow the steps explained to create a presentation with an audio component.
Presentation Requirements
Your completed presentation should contain both text and audio recordings.
Text Component
• Prepare five to seven PowerPoint slides.
• The slide should be attractively designed and easy to understand.
• The slides should effectively combine text and visual elements (graphs and tables).
• Avoid using long blocks of text. Instead, use bullets and short phrases to highlight your ideas.
• Use visual elements to provide evidence and make the presentation visually more interesting.
Typical Presentation Organization
• Title Slide: Title of project, your name, the name of the class, and the date of submission
• Introduction/Overview Slide: A brief statement of the two macroeconomic variables that you selected and the main points that you are going to discuss
• A Few Body Slides: Provide an overview of the trends and current statuses of the two variables using data and/or graphs. Provide a brief description of the main challenges and or opportunities related to the two variables that you selected.
• Conclusion Slide: Your proposed solutions to resolve issues related to the status of your two variables and/or solutions to improve these two variables
• References Slide: The list of the references you used to conduct your research
Audio Recording
• Record a 5- to 7-minute presentation, explaining the content of each slide.
• Your narration will be attached to each of your PowerPoint slides, which is commonly referred to as a Narrated PowerPoint.
• Audio does not have to be attached to the title slide or references slide but is expected to be included for all of the other slides (introduction/overview, body slides, and conclusion).
How to Record Audio in a PowerPoint Slide
1. Open your PowerPoint Presentation.
2. Click on Insert at the top left corner of your presentation.
3. Click on Audio at the top-right corner of your presentation and select Record Audio.
4. To start recording, click on the recording button (the square with the red dot in the middle) and start talking.
5. To stop recording, click on the stop button (the square with the blue small square in the middle).
6. Move to the second slide and repeat the process explained in Steps 1 through 5. Make sure you save the file every time you complete the recording for each slide.