3 million) of the decrease occurring in the last 5 months, across all major industry sectors." There is also a troubling pervasiveness to the extent of the downturn: "The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose to 3.2 million over the month and has increased by about 1.9 million since the start of the recession in December 2007." The rate of involuntary part-time workers also climbed by 423,000 to 9.0 million. This underemployment rate may reflect workplaces that cut worker hours rather than initially resort to worker layoffs to deal with a downturn in demand. The high unemployment rate is one of the reasons for the existence of the economic stimulus package. The current administration is using macroeconomic policy to infuse money into the economy by hiring workers to work on a variety of projects and by providing aid to private sources to hire more workers. By increasing opportunities for employment the administration also hopes to increase consumer confidence and thus consumer spending at the same time. This is a classical form of Keynesian macroeconomic policy.

The government has also striven to bolster some flagging...

industries, such as the automotive industry with infusions of cash. Also, by cutting taxes on middle-class Americans, individuals will have more disposable income to buy goods and services. This will further stimulate the economy. Cutting taxes on middle and low-income individuals is particularly important in macroeconomic policy, because these individuals are more apt to immediately spend their extra cash, which gives a direct incentive for producers to hire more employees.
Works Cited

CPA FAQ. (2009). U.S. Bureau of Labor Relations website. Retrieved April 22, 2009 at http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpifaq.htm#Question_1

Employment situation summary. (2009). Economic News Release. U.S. Bureau of Labor

Relations website. Retrieved April 22, 2009 at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Labor force statistics by the most recent population survey. (2009). U.S. Bureau of Labor

Relations website. Retrieved April 22, 2009 at http://www.bls.gov/cps/

Unemployment. (2009). U.S. Bureau of Labor Relations website. Retrieved April 22, 2009 at http://www.bls.gov/cps/lfcharacteristics.htm#unemp