Microeconomics

PART 1 (1.5 pages)
Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website:
http://www.bls.gov/guide/geography/projections.htm

Select occupation in your assigned state to research.
Write a paper that answers the following questions:

Which occupations have higher and lower projected openings in your state?
On the basis of these projections, would you expect wages to rise or fall over the short term and the long term?
What do you think will likely happen to labor supply over the same period?
What do you think will likely happen to worker movement in or out of your state in these occupations?
What special factors for each occupation affect the ability of labor supply to change?

PART TWO (1-2 paragraphs)
Find a product or market where monopolistic competition exists. In your discussion post, share the example along with why the situation is considered to be monopolistic competition. Please include an APA reference of your source.

PART THREE (1-2 paragraphs)
What is an example of how a firm/company has improved its marginal productivity? In your post, provide a real-world example of how a company has improved productivity by either a change in technology or improvement in human capital, etc.

PART FOUR (1/2 page)
Select one of the mini-essays below and write a detailed response. Make sure to include at least one APA reference with your response. Provide feedback to your classmates’ responses as well.
“Labor market monopsonists have unlimited power to exploit workers.” Agree or disagree with this statement and justify your position with economic reasoning.
“The American Medical Association is a powerful union.” Agree or disagree with this statement and justify your position with economic reasoning.
Under what conditions (if any) is the following statement valid? Illustrate your response graphically. “Labor unions may raise the wages of their members, but they do so at the expense of nonunion workers.”
Under what conditions (if any) is the following statement valid? Illustrate your response graphically. “Labor unions raise the wages not only of their own members but of nonunion workers as well.”