The Culprits That Affect the Unemployment Rate --------Empirical Analysis Based on U.S. Real Data

Abstract

The worldwide financial crisis in 2008 and the corona-virus pandemic in 2019 both have caused severe damages to the U.S. economy and increased unemployment. This paper is helpful in analyzing the factors that contribute the most to the U.S. rate of unemployment. The paper begins with an overall summary of the rate of unemployment throughout the U.S. history from the year 2000 to 2023. Next, this paper utilized the multivariate regression model to study the effects of multiple factors on the U.S. rate of unemployment within the time period of 2000 to 2023 and thereby determine the most influential one. The rest of this paper performs further analysis on the possible influencing factors. Arguments and evidence are gathered from articles and documents. The conclusion is that the oil price, the college enrollment, the minimum wage, and the gross domestic product are all contributing in affecting the unemployment in the United States. However, the gross domestic product seems to be the most influential factor to the unemployment when compare to the other three factors. The monetary policy can shift the racial unemployment in U.S. Also, a surge in the rate of unemployment can be considered the symbol of the depression of the housing market.