What is the quickest way to get money?
I AM BROKE I HAVE 20 BUCKS I AM POOR. I NEED MONEY PLEASE HELP I BEG OF YOU!Answers: 1. Get a full-time job and work.
2. Sell your personal items (cellphone, shoes, pets, etc.).
3. Take part-time jobs:
- Academic tutor (math, science, English, computer, etc.).
- Baby-sitter.
- Caregiver for the elderly.
- Fastfood service crew.
- Freelance medical transcriptionist.
- Talent scout
- Events coordinator/Party planner
4. Join television/radio/magazine contests:
- quiz shows (Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Distraction, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Weakest Link, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Beat the Geeks, etc.)
- reality shows (Big Brother, Amazing Race, Survivor, etc.)
- business simulation (The Apprentice)
- talent shows (America's Got Talent, American Idol, Dream Academy, America's Next Top Model, etc.)
- special-interest (The Biggest Loser, Deal or No Deal, Top Chef, etc.)
5. Contribute articles (anecdotes, feature stories, opinion essay) to magazines and newspapers (Reader's Digest, Time, The Economist, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Fortune Magazine, New York Times, The New Yorker, etc.).
6. Write short stories and novels and join literary tilts (Bridport Prize Open Writing Competition, Million Writers Award, etc.).
7. Learn a new skill and open your own small business:
- haircutting and cosmetology
- massage therapy and reflexology
- home baking
- laundry and dry cleaning
- photography
- printing and photocopying
- typing and research service
- personal shopping
- painting and sculpture
8. Get a talent agent and consider an entertainment career (singing, acting, dancing,modeling, TV/radio hosting, etc.).
9. Apply for a loan through a microfinance package.
Whatever money-generating vehicle you choose, make sure it's legal, moral, and something which you can put your heart and mind into. Wish you wealth and success in 2008!
Albertson's pays weekly
Every Friday
Or you could go to one of those labor pay today places
But I think your a girl
And that's normally construction work
Go get a loan and get a job and pay the loan off
Or get a credit card and screw yourself over
Or go get some coke and sell it on the street, thats how i get money on the side of working at the hospital
Get something out of your house and head over to your pawn shop
sell the CD player out of your car to a pawn shop
you can sell ANYTHING on craigslist.org
including yourself
but dont do that
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how the work is to be performed." Black's Law Dictionary page 471 (5th ed. 1979).
In a commercial setting, the employer conceives of a productive activity, generally with the intention of creating profits, and the employee contributes labour to the enterprise, usually in return for payment of wages.
Employment also exists in the public, non-profit and household sectors.
In the United States, the standard employment contract is considered to be at-will meaning that the employer and employee are both free to terminate the employment at any time and for any cause, or for no cause at all. However, if a termination of employment by the employer is deemed unjust by the employee, there can be legal recourse to challenge such a termination. In unionised work environments in particular, employees who are receiving discipline, up to and including termination of employment can ask for assistance by their shop steward to advocate on behalf of the employee. If an informal negotiation between the shop steward and the company does not resolve the issue, the shop steward may file a grievance, which can result in a resolution within the company, or mediation or arbitration, which are typically funded equally both by the union and the company. In non-union work environments, in the United States, unjust termination complaints can be brought to the United States Department of Labor. In the Canadian province of Ontario, formal complaints can be brought to the Ministry of Labour (Ontario). In the province of Quebec, grievances can be filed with the Commission des normes du travail.
To the extent that employment or the economic equivalent is not universal, unemployment exists.
Employment is almost universal in capitalist societies. Opponents of capitalism such as Marxists oppose the capitalist employment system, considering it to be unfair that the people who contribute the majority of work to an organization do not receive a proportionate share of the profit. However, the Surrealists and the Situationists were among the few groups to actually oppose work, and during the partially surrealist-influenced events of May 1968 the walls of the Sorbonne were covered with anti-work graffiti.
Labourers often talk of "getting a job", or "having a job". This conceptual metaphor of a "job" as a possession has led to its use in slogans such as "money for jobs, not bombs". Similar conceptions are that of "land" as a possession (real estate) or intellectual rights as a possession (intellectual property). The Online Etymology Dictionary explains that the origin of "job" is from the obsolete phrase "jobbe of work" in the sense of "piece of work", and most dictionaries list the Middle English "gobbe" meaning "lump" (gob) as the origin of "jobbe". Attempts to link the word to the biblical character Job seem to be folk etymology.[citation needed]
Contents [hide]
1 Employer
2 Employee
3 Alternatives
4 Globalisation and employment relations
5 References
6 See also
7 External links
[edit] Employer
Look up employer in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.An employer is a person or institution that hires employees or workers. Employers offer wages or a salary to the workers in exchange for the worker's labor power, depending upon whether the employee is paid by the hour or a set rate per pay period. A salaried employee is typically not paid more for more hours worked than the minimum, whereas wages are paid for all hours worked, including overtime.
Employers include everything from individuals hiring a babysitter to governments and businesses which may hire many thousands of employees. In most western societies governments are the largest single employers, but most of the work force is employed in small and medium businesses in the private sector.
Note that although employees may contribute to the evolution of an an enterprise, the employer maintains autonomous control over the productive base of land and capital, and is the entity named in contracts. The employer typically also maintains ownership of intellectual property created by an employee within the scope of employment and as a function thereof. These are known as "works for hire".
An employers’ relative level of power over employees is dependent upon numerous factors; the most influential being the nature of the employment relationship. The relationship employers share with employees is affected by three significant factors – interests, control and motivation. It is up to employers to effectively manage and balance these factors to ensure a harmonious and productive working relationship.
Interests can be best described as monetary constraints and economic pressures placed on organizations in their pursuit of profits. It covers facets such as labour productivity, wages and the effect of financial markets on businesses.
Wood et al (2004, p 355) describe control can as being either output focused, focusing on desired targets with within managers defining, and using, their own methods for reaching targets, or process controls, which specify the manner in which tasks will be achieved (Ibid, p. 357). Employer and managerial control within an organization rests at many levels and has important implications for staff and productivity alike, with control forming the fundamental link between desired outcomes and actual processes. Thus employers must balance interests such as decreasing wage constraints with a maximization of labour productivity in order to achieve a prolific employment relationship.
Motivation is the third and most difficult of the factors in the employment relationship for employers to effectively manage. Employee motivation can often be in direct conflict with control mechanisms of employers, and can be broadly defined as that which energizes, directs and sustains human behaviour ( Stone, 2005, p 412). Dubin (1958, p 213) further elaborates on this, noting motivation as “something that moves a person to action, and continues him in the course of action already initiated.”
The employment relationship is thus a difficult challenge for employers to manage, as all three facets are often in direct competition with each other, with interests, control and motivation often clashing in the equally important quest for individual employee autonomy ,employer command and ultimate profits.
[edit] Employee
Look up employee in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.An employee contributes labour and expertise to an endeavour. Employees perform the discrete activity of economic production. Of the three factors of production, employees usually provide the labour.
Specifically, an employee is any person hired by an employer to do a specific "job". In most modern economies the term employee refers to a specific defined relationship between an individual and a corporation, which differs from those of customer, or client. Most individuals attain the status of employee after a thorough process of interviews with several departments within a company. If the individual is determined to be a satisfactory fit for the position, he is given an official offer of employment within that company for a defined starting salary and position. This individual then has all the rights and privileges of an employee, which may include medical benefits and vacation days. The relationship between a corporation and its employees is usually handled through the human resources department, which handles the incorporation of new hires, and the disbursement of any benefits which the employee may be entitled, or any grievances that employee may have. An offer of employment, however, does not guarantee employment for any length of time and each party may terminate the relationship at any time. This is referred to as at will employment. While the terms accountant, lawyer and photographer might refer to professions, they are not employee titles, which may include Controller, Vice President of Legal Affairs, and Head of Media Development.
There are differing classifications of workers within a company. Some are full-time and permanent and receive a guaranteed salary, while others are hired for short term contracts or work as temps or consultants. These latter differ from permanent employees in that the company where they work is not their employer, but they may work through a temp-agency or consulting firm. In this respect, it is important to distinguish independent contractors from employees, since the two are treated differently both in law and in most taxation systems.
Employees can organize into labor unions (American English), or trade unions (British English), who represent most of the available work force in a single organization. They utilize their representative power to collectively bargain with the management of companies in order to advance concerns and demands of their membership.
Associate is a term used by some companies instead of employee. Big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, for example, use this term for non-management employees. Other firms use terms such as teammate or team member instead of employee.
Many companies further classify employees as exempt or non-exempt. This designation is used to separate employees that are eligible for overtime from those that are not. An exempt employee is one that is typically salaried and is not eligible to earn overtime. Non-exempt employees are typically paid hourly and are eligible for overtime pay.
[edit] Alternatives
When an individual entirely owns the business for which he or she labours, this is known as self-employment. Self-employment often leads to incorporation. Incorporation offers certain protections of one's personal assets. Laws of incorporation vary from state to state with Delaware having the most incorporated businesses of any state in the U.S.
Workers who are not paid wages, such as volunteers, are generally not considered as being employed. One exception to this is an internship, an employment situation in which the worker receives training or experience (and possibly college credit) as the chief form of compensation.
Those who work under obligation for the purpose of fulfilling a debt, such as an indentured servant, or as property of the person or entity they work for, such as a slave, do not receive pay for their services and are not considered employed. Some historians suggest that slavery is older than employment, but both arrangements have existed for all recorded history.
[edit] Globalisation and employment relations
The balance of economic efficiency and social equity is the ultimate debate in the field of employment relations. By meeting the needs of the employer; generating profits to establish and maintain economic efficiency; whilst maintaining a balance with the employee and creating social equity that benefits the worker so that he/she can fund and enjoy healthy living; proves to be a continuous revolving issue in westernised societies.
Globalisation has effected these issues by creating certain economic factors that disallow or allow various employment issues. Economist Edward Lee (1996) studies the effects of globalisation and summarizes the four major points of concern that effect employment relations: (1) International competition, from the newly industrialized countries, will cause unemployment growth and increased wage disparity for unskilled workers in industrialized countries. Imports from low-wage countries exert pressure on the manufacturing sector in industrialized countries and foreign direct investment (FDI) is attracted away from the industrialized nations, towards low-waged countries. (2) Economic liberalization will result in unemployment and wage inequality in developing countries. This happens as job losses in un-competitive industries outstrip job opportunities in new industries. (3) Workers will be forced to accept worsening wages and conditions, as a global labour market results in a “race to the bottom”. Increased international competition creates a pressure to reduce the wages and conditions of workers. (4) Globalization reduces the autonomy of the nation state. Capital is increasingly mobile and the ability of the state to regulate economic activity is reduced.
What also result’s to Lee’s (1996) findings is that in industrialized countries an average of almost 70 per cent of workers are employed in the service sector, most of which consists of non-tradable activities. As a result workers are either forced to become more skilled an develop sought after trades or become of this sector. Ultimately this is a result of changes and trends of employment, an evolving workforce and globalisation that is represented by a more skilled and increasing highly diverse labour force, that are growing in non standard forms of employment (Markey, R. et.al. 2006).
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An employment website is a web site dealing specifically with employment or careers. Many employment websites are designed to allow employers to post job requirements for a position to be filled. Some employment sites describe differenct job descriptions or employers. Through a job website a prospective employee can locate and fill out a job application or submit resumes over the Internet for the advertised position.
Contents [hide]
1 Employment pre-Internet
2 Employment post-Internet
2.1 Single attribute lists
2.2 Multiple attribute lists and qualification trees
3 Different ways of designing job websites using searchable attributes (or qualifications)
3.1 Text search and attribute list methods
3.2 Flexible hierarchy methods
3.3 Strict hierarchy and matrix methods
4 References
5 External links
[edit] Employment pre-Internet
Before the Internet enabled Employment Websites to advertise job positions, employment opportunities were limited to browsing the classifieds section of the paper, word of mouth and TV. Job seekers were required to find current work related classified ads in their area which imposed geographical limitations upon the individuals wanting to find employment outside of their State or Country.
Once a job was located the job seeker would have to type a cover letter, print out their resume and either personally deliver, send by mail, or overnight express their application to the employer. This task was not hard to do but was very expensive, time consuming and limited the number and area of employment an applicant could apply.
[edit] Employment post-Internet
While many Job Seekers still use classic methods to find jobs, Employment websites provide Job Positions in real time all over the world.
What used to take weeks now takes minutes. Employment websites now allow the applicant to find a job opening then submit an application/resume through password protected software and webmail.
Employment websites have completely changed the way employers look for qualified job applications. [1] Today, Job Seekers can search, browse and apply any time they wish regardless of time or day of the week.
[edit] Single attribute lists
Some sites allow users to select single attributes, or qualifications, from a list, such as "software" or "database" and then allow users to search on those qualifications individually or combinations of these qualifications. This is an excellent way of providing a filtered search based on certain qualifications.
[edit] Multiple attribute lists and qualification trees
A few employment websites, allow users to select multiple attributes, or "qualifications", sometimes arranged in hierarchical format. If an employment website takes the approach of allowing employers to post jobs with specific qualifications, and candidates to post their candidate information with specific qualifications, they can run into the problem of having a very large number of qualifications to deal with. Arranging the qualifications in a hierarchical or tree format can make the qualification trees much easier to use and search on.
All of these are different implementions of allowing employers and candidates to post jobs using discrete qualifications. A discussion of various methods if implementing job websites using discrete qualifications follows:
[edit] Different ways of designing job websites using searchable attributes (or qualifications)
[edit] Text search and attribute list methods
Text Search - Certainly "text search" is the easiest qualification search method to use and implement. This consists of a user typing qualifications in a text window, and the employment site searching for matching words in its database. This is just like doing a text search on an internet search engine such as G00GLE or Yahoo. The method after this allows job site users to select their qualifications from a list of unique qualifications.
Attribute List - Some job sites allow users to select unique qualifications from a qualification list. This seems to be useful in helping with searches, but this approach has its limits. The list of unique qualifications is usually too short and is not comprehensive enough, or it quickly becomes very long, and there is no way to define relationships between qualifications. This makes it difficult for users to find the qualifications they're looking for, and also leads us to the flexible hierarchy or qualification tree concept.
[edit] Flexible hierarchy methods
Flexible hierarchies can be further subdivided into a generic flexible hierarchy and a partially subdivided flexible hierarchy.
Generic Flexible Hierarchy - This method of organizing qualifications has the virtue of making it easier for users to find their unique qualifications and, if the site is well organized, makes it easier for users to search and find the exact candidate or position they're looking for. This is a very good method of arranging unique qualifications, as long as an extremely well thought out structure is put into place. However, if an extremely well thought out structure is required, why not try a partially subdivided flexible hierarchy?
Partially Subdivided Flexible Hierarchy - This is the same as the flexible hierarchy except that a structure is placed at the top of the hierarchy to make it easier to guide users down a path that will lead them to the qualification they're looking for. This is designated as a "partially" subdivided hierarchy since not all paths of the qualification tree are subdivided, only those that aid in the navigation of the tree. This is the best of the solutions where unique qualifications are defined. It does take some getting used to, but with practice it can exceed the usefulness of the text-based search method.
[edit] Strict hierarchy and matrix methods
Strict Hierarchy - More complex than the flexible hierarchy, the strict hierarchy makes qualifications completely unique - qualifications only appear once in the qualification tree (in the example above, the qualification "database" could only appear in one branch of the qualification tree).
Matrix - Finally, the matrix form of qualification organization is certainly the most complex. In the matrix form, all qualifications exist in a huge n-dimensional matrix, and the matrix designer must choose the intersection points between qualifications to define qualification relationships for the matrix. How someone could design this and present it to users on a web page, in a simple and usable fashion, is beyond me. We are kept busy enough in regular 4-dimensional space. However, who knows what the future holds?
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job fair is also referred commonly as a career fair or career expo. It is a fair or exposition for employers, recruiters and schools to meet with prospective job seekers. Expos usually include company or organization tables or booths where resumes can be collected and business cards can be exchanged. In the college setting, job fairs are commonly used for entry level job recruiting. Often sponsored by career centers, job fairs provide a convenient location for students to meet employers and perform first interviews.
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Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning of the market and dynamics for labour. Labour markets function through the interaction of workers and employers. Labour economics looks at the suppliers of labour services (workers), the demanders of labour services (employers), and attempts to understand the resulting pattern of wages, employment, and income.
It is an important subject because unemployment is a problem that affects the public most directly and severely. Full employment (or reduced unemployment) is a goal of many modern governments.
Contents [hide]
1 Two ways of analyzing labor markets
2 The macroeconomics of labour markets
3 Neoclassical microeconomics of labour markets
3.1 Neoclassical microeconomic model — Supply
3.2 Neoclassical microeconomic model — Demand
3.3 Neoclassical microeconomic model — Equilibrium
4 Information Approaches
5 Search models
6 Criticisms of labour economics and recent research
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
[edit] Two ways of analyzing labor markets
There are two sides to labor economics. Labor economics can generally be seen as the application of microeconomic or macroeconomic techniques to the labour market. Microeconomic techniques study the role of individuals and individual firms in the labour market. Macroeconomic techniques look at the interrelations between the labour market, the goods market, the money market, and the foreign trade market. It looks at how these interactions influence macro variables such as employment levels, participation rates, aggregate income and Gross Domestic Product.
[edit] The macroeconomics of labour markets
The labour force is defined as the number of people employed plus the number unemployed but seeking work. The participation rate is the number of people in the labour force divided by the size of the adult civilian noninstitutional population (or by the population of working age that is not institutionalised). The nonlabour force includes those who are not looking for work, those who are institutionalised such as in prisons or psychiatric wards, stay-at home spouses, children, and those serving in the military. The unemployment level is defined as the labour force minus the number of people currently employed. The unemployment rate is defined as the level of unemployment divided by the labour force. The employment rate is defined as the number of people currently employed divided by the adult population (or by the population of working age). In these statistics, self-employed people are counted as employed.
Variables like employment level, unemployment level, labour force, and unfilled vacancies are called stock variables because they measure a quantity at a point in time. They can be contrasted with flow variables which measure a quantity over a duration of time. Changes in the labour force are due to flow variables such as natural population growth, net immigration, new entrants, and retirements from the labour force. Changes in unemployment depend on: inflows made up of non-employed people starting to look for jobs and of employed people who lose their jobs and look for new ones; and outflows of people who find new employment and of people who stop looking for employment. When looking at the overall macroeconomy, several types of unemployment have been identified, including:
Frictional unemployment — This reflects the fact that it takes time for people to find and settle into new jobs. If 12 individuals each take one month before they start a new job, the aggregate unemployment statistics will record this as a single unemployed worker. Technological change often reduces frictional unemployment, for example: the internet made job searches cheaper and more comprehensive.
Structural unemployment — This reflects a mismatch between the skills and other attributes of the labour force and those demanded by employers. If 4 workers each take six months off to re-train before they start a new job, the aggregate unemployment statistics will record this as two unemployed workers. Technological change often increases structural unemployment, for example: technological change might require workers to re-train.
Natural rate of unemployment — This is the summation of frictional and structural unemployment. It is the lowest rate of unemployment that a stable economy can expect to achieve, seeing as some frictional and structural unemployment is inevitable. Economists do not agree on the natural rate, with estimates ranging from 1% to 5%, or on its meaning — some associate it with "non-accelerating inflation". The estimated rate varies from country to country and from time to time.
Demand deficient unemployment — In Keynesian economics, any level of unemployment beyond the natural rate is most likely due to insufficient demand in the overall economy. During a recession, aggregate expenditure is deficient causing the underutilization of inputs (including labour). Aggregate expenditure (AE) can be increased, according to Keynes, by increasing consumption spending (C), increasing investment spending (I), increasing government spending (G), or increasing the net of exports minus imports (X−M).
{AE = C + I + G + (X−M)}
[edit] Neoclassical microeconomics of labour markets
Economists see the labour market as similar to any other market in that the forces of supply and demand jointly determine price (in this case the wage rate) and quantity (in this case the number of people employed).
However, the labour market differs from other markets (like the markets for goods or the money market) in several ways. Perhaps the most important of these differences is the function of supply and demand in setting price and quantity. In markets for goods, if the price is high there is a tendency in the long run for more goods to be produced until the demand is satisfied. With labour, overall supply cannot effectively be manufactured because people have a limited amount of time in the day, and people are not manufactured. A rise in overall wages will, in many situations, not result in more supply of labour: it may result in less supply of labour as workers take more time off to spend their increased wages, or it may result in no change in supply. Within the overall labour market, particular segments are thought to be subject to more normal rules of supply and demand as workers are likely to change job types in response to differing wage rates.
Many economists have thought that, in the absence of laws or organisations such as unions or large multinational corporations, labour markets can be close to perfectly competitive in the economic sense — that is, there are many workers and employers both having perfect information about each other and there are no transaction costs. The competitive assumption leads to clear conclusions — workers earn their marginal product of labour.
Other economists focus on deviations from perfectly competitive labour markets. These include job search, training and gaining-of-experience costs to switch between job types, efficiency wage models and oligopsony / monopsonistic competition.
[edit] Neoclassical microeconomic model — Supply
Households are suppliers of labour. In microeconomics theory, people are assumed rational and seeking to maximise their utility function. In this labour market model, their utility function is determined by the choice between income and leisure. However, they are constrained by the waking hours available to them.
Let w denote hourly wage.
Let k denote total waking hours.
Let L denote working hours.
Let π denote other incomes or benefits.
Let A denote leisure hours.
The utility function and budget constraint can be expressed as following:
max U(w L + π, A) such that L + A ≤ k.
This can be shown in a that illustrates the trade-off between allocating your time between leisure activities and income generating activities. The linear constraint line indicates that there are only 24 hours in a day, and individuals must choose how much of this time to allocate to leisure activities and how much to working. (If multiple days are being considered the maximum number of hours that could be allocated towards leisure or work is about 16 due to the necessity of sleep) This allocation decision is informed by the curved indifference curve labelled IC. The curve indicates the combinations of leisure and work that will give the individual a specific level of utility. The point where the highest indifference curve is just tangent to the constraint line (point A), illustrates the short-run equilibrium for this supplier of labour services.
The Income/Leisure trade-off in the short run
If the preference for consumption is measured by the value of income obtained, rather than work hours, this diagram can be used to show a variety of interesting effects. This is because the slope of the budget constraint becomes the wage rate. The point of optimisation (point A) reflects the equivalency between the wage rate and the marginal rate of substitution, leisure for income (the slope of the indifference curve). Because the marginal rate of substitution, leisure for income, is also the ratio of the marginal utility of leisure (MUL) to the marginal utility of income (MUY), one can conclude:
Effects of a wage increase
If wages increase, this individual's constraint line pivots up from X,Y1 to X,Y2. He/she can now purchase more goods and services. His/her utility will increase from point A on IC1 to point B on IC2. To understand what effect this might have on the decision of how many hours to work, you must look at the income effect and substitution effect.
The wage increase shown in the previous diagram can be decompiled into two separate effects. The pure income effect is shown as the movement from point A to point C in the next diagram. Consumption increases from YA to YC and — assuming leisure is a normal good — leisure time increases from XA to XC (employment time decreases by the same amount; XA to XC).
The Income and Substitution effects of a wage increase
But that is only part of the picture. As the wage rate rises, the worker will substitute work hours for leisure hours, that is, will work more hours to take advantage of the higher wage rate, or in other words substitute away from leisure because of its higher opportunity cost. This substitution effect is represented by the shift from point C to point B. The net impact of these two effects is shown by the shift from point A to point B. The relative magnitude of the two effects depends on the circumstances. In some cases the substitution effect is greater than the income effect (in which case more time will be allocated to working), but in other cases the income effect will be greater than the substitution effect (in which case less time is allocated to working). The intuition behind this latter case is that the worker has reached the point where his marginal utility of leisure outweighs his marginal utility of income. To put it in less formal (and less accurate) terms: there is no point in earning more money if you don't have the time to spend it.
The Labour Supply curveIf the substitution effect is greater than the income effect, the labour supply curve (diagram to the left) will slope upwards to the right, as it does at point E for example. This individual will continue to increase his supply of labour services as the wage rate increases up to point F where he is working HF hours (each period of time). Beyond this point he will start to reduce the amount of labour hours he supplies (for example at point G he has reduced his work hours to HG). Where the supply curve is sloping upwards to the right (positive wage elasticity of labour supply), the substitution effect is greater than the income effect. Where it slopes upwards to the left (negative elasticity), the income effect is greater than the substitution effect. The direction of slope may change more than once for some individuals, and the labour supply curve is likely to be different for different individuals.
Other variables that affect this decision include taxation, welfare, and work environment.
[edit] Neoclassical microeconomic model — Demand
This article has examined the labour supply curve which illustrates at every wage rate the maximum quantity of hours a worker will be willing to supply to the economy per period of time. Economists also need to know the maximum quantity of hours an employer will demand at every wage rate. To understand the quantity of hours demanded per period of time it is necessary to look at product production. That is, labour demand is a derived demand: it is derived from the output levels in the goods market.
A firm's labour demand is based on its marginal physical product of labour (MPL). This is defined as the additional output (or physical product) that results from an increase of one unit of labour (or from an infinitesimally small increase in labour). If you are not familiar with these concepts, you might want to look at production theory basics before continuing with this article.
The Marginal Physical Product of LabourIn most industries, and over the relevant range of outputs, the marginal physical product of labour is declining. That is, as more and more units of labour are employed, their additional output begins to decline. This is reflected by the slope of the MPPL curve in the diagram to the right. If the marginal physical product of labour is multiplied by the value of the output that it produces, we obtain the Value of marginal physical product of labour:
MPPL * PQ = VMPPL
The value of marginal physical product of labour (VMPPL) is the value of the additional output produced by an additional unit of labour. This is illustrated in the diagram by the VMPPL curve that is above the MPPL.
In competitive industries, the VMPPL is in identity with the marginal revenue product of labour (MRPL). This is because in competitive markets price is equal to marginal revenue, and marginal revenue product is defined as the marginal physical product times the marginal revenue from the output (MRP = MPP * MR).
A Firm's Labour Demand in the Short RunThe marginal revenue product of labour can be used as the demand for labour curve for this firm in the short run. In competitive markets, a firm faces a perfectly elastic supply of labour which corresponds with the wage rate and the marginal resource cost of labour (W = SL = MFCL). In imperfect markets, the diagram would have to be adjusted because MFCL would then be equal to the wage rate divided by marginal costs. Because optimum resource allocation requires that marginal factor costs equal marginal revenue product, this firm would demand L units of labour as shown in the diagram.
[edit] Neoclassical microeconomic model — Equilibrium
The demand for labour of this firm can be summed with the demand for labour of all other firms in the economy to obtain the aggregate demand for labour. Likewise, the supply curves of all the individual workers (mentioned above) can be summed to obtain the aggregate supply of labour. These supply and demand curves can be analysed in the same way as any other industry demand and supply curves to determine equilibrium wage and employment levels.
[edit] Information Approaches
Since the 1970s some attention has shifted to the information characteristics of the labour market.
In the classical model it is assumed that both sides know how much work effort and marginal product the employee contributes.
In many real-life situations this is far from the case. The firm does not necessarily know how hard a worker is working or how productive they are. This provides an incentive for workers to shirk from providing their full effort — since it is difficult for the employer to identify the hard-working and the shirking employees, there is no incentive to work hard and productivity falls overall.
The methods used to overcome this type of problem have been studied by modern labour economists.
One solution used recently (stock options) grants employees the chance to benefit directly from the firm's success. However, this solution has attracted criticism as executives with large stock option packages have been suspected of acting to over-inflate share values to the detriment of the long-run welfare of the firm.
Another aspect of uncertainty results from the firm's imperfect knowledge about worker ability. If a firm is unsure about a worker's ability, it pays a wage assuming that the worker's ability is the average of similar workers. This wage undercompenstates high ability workers and may drive them away from the labour market. Such phenomenon is called adverse selection and can sometimes lead to market collapse.
There are many ways to overcome adverse selection in labour market. One important mechanism is called signalling, pioneered by Michael Spence. In his classical paper on job signalling, Spence showed that even if education does not increase productivity, high ability workers may still acquire it just to signal their abilities. Employers can then use education as a signal to infer worker ability and pay higher wages to better educated workers.
[edit] Search models
One of the major research achievements of the last 20 years has been the development of a framework with dynamic search, matching, and bargaining. Work started in the early 1980s with contributions from Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and others which characterized equilibrium in such model economies. Later, this framework was tailored to the labour market. More recently, Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides have extended the framework to include labour market institutions such as unemployment insurance and employment protection.
[edit] Criticisms of labour economics and recent research
One critique of standard economic analysis of labour markets is that it does not account for the importance of social networks in the employment process. This view holds that personal connections are key for both workers and employees. Hence, employees are more likely to apply for jobs where they have a personal connection, and are more likely to be hired if they apply. In response to this issue, a large literature has recently evolved that attempts to identify statistical discrimination in hiring, looking at whether group membership, most notably race, influences firms' hiring decisions.
More generally, sociologists and political economists claim that labour economics tends to lose sight of the complexity of individual employment decisions. These decisions, particularly on the supply side, are often loaded with considerable emotional baggage and a purely numerical analysis can miss important dimensions of the process.
Also missing from most labour market analyses is the role of unpaid labour. Even though this type of labour is unpaid it can nevertheless play an important part in society. The most dramatic example is child raising. However, over the past 25 years an increasing literature, usually designated as the Economics of the Family, has sought to study within household decision making, including joint labour supply, fertility, child raising, as well as other areas of what is generally referred to as home production.
[edit] See also
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Unemployment is the state in which a person is without work, available to work, and is currently seeking work.[1] The unemployment rate is used in economic studies and economic indexes such as the United States' Conference Board's Index of Leading Indicators. The rate is determined by dividing the number of unemployed workers by the total civilian labor force.
Unemployment rate as a percentage of the labor force in the United States according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.Contents [hide]
1 Causes
2 Government spending
2.1 Debate on causes
3 Individual costs
4 Types
5 Measurement
5.1 European Union (Eurostat)
5.2 United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
5.3 Limitations of the unemployment definition
6 Aiding the unemployed
7 Involuntary unemployment
8 Benefits
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
[edit] Causes
Open unemployment of the sort defined above is associated with capitalist economies. Preliterate communities treat their members as parts of an extended family and thus do not allow unemployment. In precapitalist societies such as European feudalism, the serfs, though clearly dominated and exploited by the lords, were never "unemployed" because they had direct access to the land, and the needed tools, and could thus work to produce crops. Just as on the American frontier during the nineteenth century, there were day laborers and subsistence farmers on poor land, whose position in society was somewhat analogous to the unemployed of today. But they were not truly unemployed, since they could find work and support themselves on the land.
Under both ancient and modern systems of slave-labor, slave-owners never let their property be unemployed for long. (If anything, they would sell the unneeded laborer.) Planned economies such as the old Soviet Union or today's Cuba typically provide occupation for everyone, using substantial overstaffing if necessary. (This is called "hidden unemployment," which is sometimes seen as a kind of underemployment, definition 3.) Workers' cooperatives — such as those producing plywood in the U.S. Pacific Northwest — do not let their members become unemployed unless the co-op itself goes bankrupt.
Since not all unemployment may be "open" and counted by government agencies, official unemployment may be very low even under capitalism. Most poorer capitalist countries lack a modern welfare state and unemployment insurance so that it is very difficult to afford being unemployed for very long: they often end up taking jobs below their skill levels. Those who might be counted as "unemployed" in the rich countries end up instead being underemployed and not counted.
Others argue that unemployment actually increases the more the government intervenes into the economy. For example, minimum wages raise costs of doing business and businesses respond by laying off workers. Laws restricting layoffs make businesses less likely to hire in the first place leaving many young people unemployed and unable to find work.
The results of both actions lead to less productivity and are claimed to incur a higher cost on society as a whole. The results lead to not just higher unemployment but may increase poverty. This is why the less market oriented countries of Europe often sustain substantially high unemployment rates in comparison to the United States; that is, government induced employment through policies designed to protect the worker. The welfare state then responds with various benefits that are paid for by the middle and upper class which reduces their ability to consume and is theorised to reduce the incentive to work hard and innovate. Economists like Ludwig Von Mises, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Von Hayek, and many others not only believe that the welfare of society decreases with this kind of intervention but that these economic policies are not sustainable.
[edit] Government spending
Some economists found high correlations between government spending as a percentage of GDP to unemployment from 1981 to the present using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The correlation between government spending was negative during the 1940 to 1980 period. However, the Misery Index was steadily rising during this period. These same economists state that the unemployment supply curve is actually vertical, that labor will work under any condition provided work is available, and the economic element with the most power to shift it is government.
[edit] Debate on causes
There is considerable debate among economists as to the causes of unemployment. Keynesian economics emphasizes unemployment resulting from insufficient effective demand for goods and service in the economy (cyclical unemployment). Others point to structural problems, inefficiencies, inherent in labour markets (structural unemployment). Classical or neoclassical economics tends to reject these explanations, and focuses more on rigidities imposed on the labor market from the outside, such as minimum wage laws, taxes, and other regulations that may discourage the hiring of workers (classical unemployment). Yet others see unemployment as largely due to voluntary choices by the unemployed (frictional unemployment). On the other extreme, Marxists see unemployment as a structural fact helping to preserve business profitability and capitalism.
Though there have been several definitions of voluntary and involuntary unemployment in the economics literature, a simple distinction is often applied. Voluntary unemployment is attributed to the individual unemployed workers (and their decisions), whereas involuntary unemployment exists because of the socio-economic environment (including the market structure, government intervention, and the level of aggregate demand) in which individuals operate. In these terms, much or most of frictional unemployment is voluntary, since it reflects individual search behavior. On the other hand, cyclical unemployment, structural unemployment, classical unemployment, and Marxian unemployment are largely involuntary in nature. However, the existence of structural unemployment may reflect choices made by the unemployed in the past, while classical unemployment may result from the legislative and economic choices made by labor unions and/or political parties. So in practice, the distinction between voluntary and involuntary unemployment is hard to draw. The clearest cases of involuntary unemployment are those where there are fewer job vacancies than unemployed workers even when wages are allowed to adjust, so that even if all vacancies were to be filled, there would be unemployed workers. This is the case of cyclical unemployment and Marxian unemployment, for which macroeconomic forces lead to microeconomic unemployment. See also: unemployment types
Some argue one of the main causes of unemployment in a free market economy is that the law of supply and demand is not really applied to the price to be paid for employing people. In situations of falling demand for products and services the wages of all employees, from president to errand boy, are not automatically reduced by the required percentage to make the business viable. Others say that it is the market that determines the wages based on the desirability of the job. The more people qualified and interested in the job, the lower the wages for that job become. Based on this view, the profitability of the company is not a factor in determining whether or not the work is profitable to the employee. People are laid off, because pay reductions would reduce the number of people willing to work a job. With fewer people interested in a particular job, the employees bargaining power would actually rise to stabilize the situation, but their employer would be unable to fulfill their wage expectations. In the classical framework, such unemployment is due to the existing legal framework, along with interferences with the market by non-market institutions such as labor unions and government. Others say many of the problems with market adjustment arise from the market itself (Keynes), or from the nature of capitalism (Marx).
In developing countries unemployment is often caused by burdensome government regulation. The World Bank's Doing Business project shows how excessive labor regulation increases unemployment among women and youths in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
[edit] Individual costs
An 1837 political cartoon about unemployment in the United States.Unemployed individuals are unable to earn money to meet financial obligations. Failure to pay mortgage payments or to pay rent may lead to homelessness through foreclosure or eviction. The loss of health insurance benefits that comes with unemployment increases susceptibility to malnutrition, illness, mental stress, and loss of self-esteem, leading to depression.
Dr. M. Harvey Brenner conducted a study in 1979 on the "Influence of the Social Environment on Psychology." Brenner found that for every 10% increase in the number of unemployed there is a 1.2% in total mortality, a 1.7% increase in cardiovascular disease, 1.3% more cirrhosis cases, 1.7% more suicides, 0.4% more arrests, and 0.8% more assaults reported to the police.[2]However, during the Great Depression, when unemployment rates exceeded 20% in many countries,[citation needed] the crime rate did not decrease. Because unemployment insurance in the U.S. typically does not replace 50% of the income one received on the job (and one cannot receive it forever), the unemployed often end up tapping welfare programs such as Food Stamps or accumulating debt. Higher government transfer payments in the form of welfare and food stamps decrease spending on productive economic goods, decreasing GDP.[citation needed]
Some hold that many of the low-income jobs are not really a better option than unemployment with a welfare state (with its unemployment insurance benefits). But since it is difficult or impossible to get unemployment insurance benefits without having worked in the past, these jobs and unemployment are more complementary than they are substitutes. (These jobs are often held short-term, either by students or by those trying to gain experience; turnover in most low-paying jobs is high, in excess of 30%/year.[citation needed]) Unemployment insurance keeps an available supply of workers for the low-paying jobs, while the employers' choice of management techniques (low wages and benefits, few chances for advancement) is made with the existence of unemployment insurance in mind. This combination promotes the existence of one kind of unemployment, frictional unemployment.[citation needed]
Another cost for the unemployed is that the combination of unemployment, lack of financial resources, and social responsibilities may push unemployed workers to take jobs that do not fit their skills or allow them to use their talents. Unemployment can cause underemployment. This is one of the economic arguments in favor of having unemployment insurance.[citation needed]
This feared cost of job loss can spur psychological anxiety, weaken labor unions and their members' sense of solidarity, encourage greater work-effort and lower wage demands, and/or abet protectionism. This last means efforts to preserve existing jobs (of the "insiders") via barriers to entry against "outsiders" who want jobs, legal obstacles to immigration, and/or tariffs and similar trade barriers against foreign competitors. The impact of unemployment on the employed is related to the idea of Marxian unemployment. Finally, the existence of significant unemployment raises the oligopsony power of one's employer: that raises the cost of quitting one's job and lowers the probability of finding a new source of livelihood.[citation needed]
[edit] Types
Main articles: Unemployment types and Graduate unemployment
There are seven types of unemployment. Frictional unemployment occurs when a worker moves from one job to another. While he searches for a job he is experiencing frictional unemployment. Structural unemployment is caused by a mismatch between the location of jobs and the location of job-seekers. "Location" may be geographical, or in terms of skills. The mismatch comes because unemployed are unwilling or unable to change geography or skills. Cyclical unemployment, also known as demand deficient unemployment, occurs when there is not enough aggregate demand for the labor. This is caused by a business cycle recession. Technological unemployment is caused by the replacement of workers by machines or other advanced technology. Classical or real-wage unemployment occurs when real wages for a job are set above the market-clearing level. This is often as a result of government intervention, as with the minimum wage, or unions. Some, such as Murray Rothbard[3], suggest that even social taboos can prevent wages from falling to the market clearing level. Marxian unemployment is needed to motivate workers to work hard and to keep wages down. Seasonal unemployment occurs when an occupation is not in demand at certain seasons. For example, construction workers in winter, ski instructors in summer.[citation needed]
[edit] Measurement
Though many people care about the number of unemployed, economists typically focus on the unemployment rate. This corrects for the normal increase in the number of people employed due to increases in population and increases in the labor force relative to the population. The unemployment rate is expressed as a percent, and calculated as follows:
As defined by the International Labour Organization, "unemployed workers" are those who are currently not working but are willing and able to work for pay, currently available to work, and have actively searched for work.[4]
The ILO describes 4 different methods to calculate the unemployment rate:[5]
Labour Force Sample Surveys are the most preferred method of unemployment rate calculation since they give the most comprehensive results and enables calculation of unemployment by different group categories such as race and gender. This method is the most internationally comparable.
Official Estimates are determined by a combination of information from one or more of the other three methods. The use of this method has been declining in favor of Labour Surveys.
Social Insurance Statistics such as unemployment benefits, are computed base on the number of persons insured representing the total labour force and the number of persons who are insured that are collecting benefits. This method has been heavily criticized due to the expiration of benefits before the person finds work.
Employment Office Statistics are the least effective being that they only include a monthly tally of unemployed persons who enter employment offices. This method also includes unemployed who are not unemployed per the ILO definition.
[edit] European Union (Eurostat)
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, defines unemployed as those persons age 15 to 74 who are not working, have looked for work in the last four weeks, and ready to start work within two weeks, which conform to ILO standards. Both the actual count and rate of employment are reported. Statistical data is available by member state, EU12, EU15, EU25, EU27, EA11, and EA13. Eurostat also includes a long-term unemployment rate. This is defined as part of the unemployed who have been unemployed for an excess of 1 year.[6]
Three methods of data collection are used in the European Union. The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) collects data on all member states each quarter. For monthly calculations, national surveys or national registers from employment offices are used in conjunction with quarterly EU-LFS data. Monthly unemployment rates are interpolated from monthly data from member states to provide "harmonized data."[7]
At this time Germany's unemployment data is collected separately from the (EU-LFS).
[edit] United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
There was an official measure of 6.8 million unemployed in the U.S. as of April 2007, a rate of 4.5%.[8]
Unemployment rate for US states in 2004The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures employment and unemployment (of those over 16 years of age) using two different labor force surveys[9] conducted by the United States Census Bureau (within the United States Department of Commerce) and/or the Bureau of Labor Statistics (within the United States Department of Labor) that gather employment statistics monthly. The Current Population Survey (CPS), or "Household Survey", conducts a survey based on a sample of 60,000 households. This Survey measures the unemployment rate based on the ILO definition.[10]The data is also used to calculate 5 other unemployment rates as a percentage of the labor force based on different definitions noted as U1 through U6:[11]
U1: Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.
U2: Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.
U3: Official unemployment rate per ILO definition.
U4: U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions makes them believe that no work is available for them.
U5: U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
U6: U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but can not due to economic reasons.
Note: "Marginally attached workers" are added to the total labor force for unemployment rate calculation for U4, U5, and U6.
The Current Employment Statistics survey (CES), or "Payroll Survey", conducts a survey based on a sample of 160,000 businesses and government agencies that represent 400,000 individual employers.[8] This survey measures only nonagricultural, nonsupervisory employment; thus, it does not calculate an unemployment rate, and it differs from the ILO unemployment rate definition. This survey also does not measure the These two sources have different classification criteria, and usually produce differing results. Additional data is also available from the government, such as the unemployment insurance weekly claims report available from the Office of Workforce Security, within the U.S. Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration.[12]
These statistics are for the U.S. economy as a whole, hiding variations among groups. For April 2007 in the U.S. the unemployment rates were 4.0% for adult men, 3.8% for adult women, 3.9% for Caucasians, 5.4% for Hispanics or Latinos (all races), 8.2% for African American, 15.3% for teenagers.[8]
These percentages represent the usual rough ranking of these different groups' unemployment rates. The absolute numbers change over time and with the business cycle. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides up-to-date numbers via a pdf linked here.here The BLS also provides a readable concise current Employment Situation Summary, updated monthly.[4]
[edit] Limitations of the unemployment definition
The unemployment rate may be different from the impact of the economy on people. The unemployment figures indicate how many are not working for pay but seeking employment for pay. It is only indirectly connected with the number of people who are actually not working at all or working without pay. Therefore, critics believe that current methods of measuring unemployment are inaccurate in terms of the impact of unemployment on people as these methods do not take into account the 1.5% of the available working population incarcerated in U.S. prisons (who may or may not be working while incarcerated), those who have lost their jobs and have become discouraged over time from actively looking for work, those who are self-employed or wish to become self-employed, such as tradesmen or building contractors or IT consultants, those who have retired before the official retirement age but would still like to work (involuntary early retirees), those on disability pensions who, while not possessing full health, still wish to work in occupations suitable for their medical conditions, those who work for payment for as little as one hour per week but would like to work full-time. These people are "involuntary part-time" workers, those who are underemployed, e.g., a computer programmer who is working in a retail store until he can find a permanent job, involuntary stay-at-home mothers who would prefer to work, and graduate and Professional school students who were unable to find worthwhile jobs after they graduated with their Bachelor's degrees.
On the other hand, the measures of employment and unemployment may be "too high". In some countries, the availability of unemployment benefits can inflate statistics since they give an incentive to register as unemployed. People who do not really seek work may choose to declare themselves unemployed so as to get benefits; people with undeclared paid occupations may try to get unemployment benefits in addition to the money they earn from their work. Conversely, the absence of any tangible benefit for registering as unemployed discourages people from registering.
However, in countries such as the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan and the European Union, unemployment is measured using a sample survey (akin to a Gallup poll). According to the BLS, a number of Eastern European nations have instituted labor force surveys as well. The sample survey has its own problems because the total number of workers in the economy is calculated based on a sample rather than a census.
It is possible to be neither employed nor unemployed by ILO definitions, i.e., to be outside of the "labor force." These are people who have no job and are not looking for one. Many of these are going to school or are retired. Family responsibilities keep others out of the labor force. Still others have a physical or mental disability which prevents them from participating in labor force activities.
Typically, employment and the labor force include only work done for monetary gain. Hence, a homemaker is neither part of the labor force nor unemployed. Nor are full-time students nor prisoners considered to be part of the labor force or unemployment. The latter can be important. In 1999, economists Lawrence F. Katz and Alan B. Krueger estimated that increased incarceration lowered measured unemployment in the United States by 0.17 percent between 1985 and the late 1990s. In particular, as of 2005, roughly 0.7% of the US population is incarcerated (1.5% of the available working population).
Children, the elderly, and some individuals with disabilities are typically not counted as part of the labor force in and are correspondingly not included in the unemployment statistics. However, some elderly and many disabled individuals are active in the labor market.
For the fourth quarter of 2004, according to OECD, (source Employment Outlook 2005 ISBN 92-64-01045-9), normalized unemployment for men aged 25 to 54 was 4.6% in the USA and 7.4% in France. At the same time and for the same population the employment rate (number of workers divided by population) was 86.3% in the U.S. and 86.7% in France.
This example shows that the unemployment rate is 60% higher in France than in the USA, yet more people in this demographic are working in France than in the USA, which is counterintuitive if it is expected that the unemployment rate reflects the health of the labor market.[13]
In the early stages of an economic boom, unemployment often rises. This is because people join the labor market (give up studying, start a job hunt, etc.) because of the improving job market, but until they have actually found a position they are counted as unemployed. Similarly, during a recession, the increase in the unemployment rate is moderated by people leaving the labor force or being otherwise discounted from the labor force, such as with the self-employed.
Due to these deficiencies, many labor market economists prefer to look at a range of economic statistics such as labor market participation rate, the percentage of people aged between 15 and 64 who are currently employed or searching for employment, the total number of full-time jobs in an economy, the number of people seeking work as a raw number and not a percentage, and the total number of person-hours worked in a month compared to the total number of person-hours people would like to work.
[edit] Aiding the unemployed
The most developed countries have aids for the unemployed as part of the welfare state. These unemployment benefits include unemployment insurance, welfare, unemployment compensation and subsidies to aid in retraining. The main goal of these programs is to alleviate short-term hardships and, more importantly, to allow workers more time to search for a good job.
In the U.S. the unemployment insurance allowance one receives is based solely on previous income (not time worked, family size, etc.) and usually compensates for one-third of one's previous income. To qualify, one must reside in their respective state for at least a year and, of course, work. The system was established by the Social Security Act of 1935. While 90% of citizens are covered on paper, only 40% could actually receive benefits.[citation needed] In cases of highly seasonal industries the system provides income to workers during the off seasons, thus encouraging them to stay attached to the industry.
In the United States the New Deal made unemployment relief a top governmental priority. The goal of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was to employ most of the unemployed people on relief until the economy recovered. FERA/WPA director Harry Hopkins testified to Congress in January 1935 why he set the number at 3.5 million, using FERA data. At $1200 per worker per year he asked for and received $4 billion.
"On January 1 there were 20 million persons on relief in the United States. Of these, 8.3 million were children under sixteen years of age; 3.8 million were persons who, though between the ages of sixteen and sixty-five were not working nor seeking work. These included housewives, students in school, and incapacitated persons. Another 750,000 were persons sixty-five years of age or over. Thus, of the total of 20 million persons then receiving relief, 12.85 million were not considered eligible for employment. This left a total of 7.15 million presumably employable persons between the ages of sixteen and sixty-five inclusive. Of these, however, 1.65 million were said to be farm operators or persons who had some non-relief employment, while another 350,000 were, despite the fact that they were already employed or seeking work, considered incapacitated. Deducting this two million from the total of 7.15 million, there remained 5.15 million persons sixteen to sixty-five years of age, unemployed, looking for work, and able to work. Because of the assumption that only one worker per family would be permitted to work under the proposed program, this total of 5.15 million was further reduced by 1.6 million--the estimated number of workers who were members of families which included two or more employable persons. Thus, there remained a net total of 3.55 million workers in as many households for whom jobs were to be provided." [Howard p 562, paraphrasing Hopkins]
The WPA did not quite reach 3.5 million--its maximum was 3.3 million in November 1938. Worker pay was based on three factors: the region of the country, the degree of urbanization and the individual's skill. It varied from $19/month to $94/month. The goal was to pay the local prevailing wage, but to limit a person to 30 hours or less a week of work. About 75 percent of WPA employment and 75 percent of WPA expenditures went to public infrastructure, such as highways, airports, parks and libraries.
The WPA had numerous critics who said that political considerations helped decide which states received the most funding. Civil rights leaders often complained that African Americans were proportionally underrepresented. In New Jersey, they argued, "In spite of the fact that Negroes indubitably constitute more than 20 per cent of the State's unemployed, they composed 15.9 per cent of those assigned to W.P.A. jobs during 1937." [Howard 287] Nationwide in late 1937, 15.2% were African American. The NAACP magazine Opportunity hailed the WPA: [February, 1939, p. 34. in Howard 295]
It is to the eternal credit of the administrative officers of the WPA that discrimination on various projects because of race has been kept to a minimum and that in almost every community Negroes have been given a chance to participate in the work program. In the South, as might have been expected, this participation has been limited, and differential wages on the basis of race have been more or less effectively established; but in the northern communities, particularly in the urban centers, the Negro has been afforded his first real opportunity for employment in white-collar occupations
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A lottery is a popular form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. Some governments outlaw it, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in many countries, including the U.S.A. and most of Europe. This remained so until after World War II. In the 1960's casinos and lotteries began to appear throughout the world as a means to raise revenue in addition to taxes.
Lotteries are most often run by governments or local states and are sometimes described as a regressive tax, since those most likely to buy tickets will typically be the less affluent members of a society. The astronomically high odds against winning have also led to the epithets of a "tax on stupidity", "math tax" or the oxymoron "voluntary tax" (playing the lottery is voluntary; taxes are not). They are intended to suggest that lotteries, being an addictive form of gambling, are governmental revenue-raising mechanisms that will attract only those consumers who fail to see that the game is a very bad deal. Indeed, the desire of lottery operators to guarantee themselves a profit requires that an average lottery ticket be worth substantially less than what it costs to buy. After taking into account the present value of the lottery prize as a single lump sum cash payment, the impact of any taxes that might apply, and the likelihood of having to share the prize with other winners, it is not uncommon to find that a ticket for a typical major lottery is worth less than one third of its purchase price. The large multi million dollar prize lotteries in the USA are paid by annuity over 20 years. Therefore, if you take a one-time lump sum cash payment, plus pay the federal taxes, you will end up with about one third of the total prize money offered.
Lotteries come in many formats. The prize can be fixed cash or goods. In this format there is risk to the organizer if insufficient tickets are sold. The prize can be a fixed percentage of the receipts. A popular form of this is the "50-50" draw where the organizers promise that the prize will be 50% of the revenue. The prize may be guaranteed to be unique where each ticket sold has a unique number. Many recent lotteries allow purchasers to select the numbers on the lottery ticket resulting in the possibility of multiple winners.
The fact that lotteries are commonly played leads to some contradictions against standard models of economic rationality. However, the expectations of some players may not be to win the game, but to experience the thrill and indulge in a fantasy of possibly becoming wealthy. Even ignoring the thrill factor, there is the theoretical possibility that the purchase of a lottery ticket could represent a gain in expected utility, even though it represents a loss in expected monetary value, thus making the purchase a rational decision. Insurance, for instance, represents negative expected monetary value but is not considered to be a tax on stupidity because it is generally believed to deliver positive expected utility to the individual.
Lottery tickets are usually scanned in large numbers, using marksense-technology. With today's computer performance, it takes less than one second to check if a particular combination was picked up by anyone, even for lotteries like Euromillions or MegaMillions.
Contents [hide]
1 Early history
1.1 English lotteries, 1566-1826
1.2 Colonial & Early America Lotteries, 1612-1900
2 Countries with a national lottery
2.1 Americas
2.2 Europe
2.3 Asia
2.4 Africa
2.5 Australia
3 Country Lottery details
3.1 Lottery in the United States
3.2 Lottery in Canada
3.3 Lottery in France
3.4 Lottery in New Zealand
4 Probability of winning
5 Notable prizes
6 Payment of prizes
7 Scams and frauds
8 See also
9 References
10 External links
[edit] Early history
The first signs of a lottery trace back the Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 B.C., where ancient Keno slips were discovered. The lottery has helped finance major governmental projects like the Great Wall of China. From the Chinese "The Book of Songs" (second millennium B.C.) comes a reference to a game of chance as "the drawing of wood", which in context appears to describe the drawing of lots. From the Celtic era, the Cornish words "teulet pren" translates into "to throw wood" and means "to draw lots". The Iliad by Homer refers to lots being placed into Agamemon's helmet to determine who would fight Hector.
The first known European lottery occurred during the Roman Empire, and was mainly done as a form of amusement at dinner parties. Each guest would receive a ticket, and prizes would often consist of fancy items such as dinnerware. Every ticket holder would be assured of winning something. This type of lottery however, was no more than the distribution of gifts by wealthy noblemen during the Saturnalian revelries. The earliest records of a lottery offering tickets for sale is the lottery organized by Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. The funds were for repairs to the City of Rome, and the winners were given prizes in the form of articles of unequal value.
The earliest public lottery on record is that which was held in the Dutch town of Sluis in 1434.
The first recorded lotteries to offer tickets for sale with prizes in the form of money were held in the Low Countries during the period 1443-1449. Various towns in Flanders (parts of Belgium, Holland, and France), held public lotteries to raise money for town fortifications, and raising money to help the poor. The town records of Ghent, Utrecht, and Bruges, indicate that the lotteries may well be of even greater antiquity. An early record dated May 9,1445 at L'Ecluse, refers to raising funds to build walls and town fortifications, with a lottery of 4,304 tickets and total prize money of 1737 florins.
The Dutch were the first to shift the lottery to solely money prizes and base prizes on odds (roughly about 1 in 4 tickets winning a prize). The lottery proved to be very popular, and was hailed as a painless form of taxation. In the Netherlands the lottery was used to raise money for e.g. supporting poor people, building dikes, construction of defense works for towns and to buy free sailors from slavery in the Arab countries. The English word lottery stems from the Dutch word loterij, which is derived from the Dutch noun lot meaning fate. The Dutch state owned staatsloterij is the oldest still existing lottery.
[edit] English lotteries, 1566-1826
Although it is more than likely that the English first experimented with raffles and similar games of chance, the first recorded official lottery was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I, in the year 1566, and was drawn in 1569. This lottery was designed to raise money for the "reparation of the havens and strength of the Realme, and towardes such other publique good workes." Each ticket holder won a prize, and the total value of the prizes equaled the money raised. Prizes were in the form of silver plate and other valuable commodities. Thus, the lottery money received was a loan to the government during the three years tickets were sold. In later years, the government sold the lottery ticket rights to brokers, who in turn hired agents and runners to sell them. These brokers eventually became the modern day stockbrokers for various commercial ventures. Many private lotteries were held, including raising money for The Virginia Company of London to support its settlement in America at Jamestown. The English State Lottery ran from 1694 until 1826. Thus, the English lotteries ran for over two hundred and fifty years, until the government under constant pressure from the opposition in parliament declared a final lottery in 1826. This lottery was held up to ridicule by contemporary commentators as "the last struggle of the speculators on public credulity for popularity to their last dying lottery.
[edit] Colonial & Early America Lotteries, 1612-1900
An English lottery authorized by King James I in 1612, granted the Virginia Company of London the right to raise money to help establish settlers in the first permanent English colony at Jamestown, Virginia.
Lotteries in colonial America played a significant part in the financing of both private and public ventures. It has been recorded that more than two hundred lotteries were sanctioned between 1744 and 1776 where they played a major role in financing projects that included roads, libraries, churches, colleges, canals, bridges, etc. In the 1740's, Princeton and Columbia University had their beginnings financed by lotteries, as did the University of Pennsylvania by the Academy Lottery in 1755.
During the French and Indian Wars, several colonies used lotteries to supplement the cost of building fortifications and supporting their local militia. In May 1758, the State of Massachusetts raised money with a lottery for the "Expedition against Canada." Benjamin Franklin organized a lottery to raise money to purchase cannon for the defense of Philadelphia. Several of these lotteries offered prizes in the form of "Pieces of Eight."
George Washington's Mountain Road Lottery was unsuccessful in 1768. However, these rare lottery tickets bearing George Washington's signature have become collector's items which sell for about $15,000 in 2007. Later, in 1769, Washington was a manager for Col. Bernard Moore's "Slave Lottery" whereby land and slaves were advertised as prizes in the Virginia Gazette.
At the outset of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress used lotteries to raise money to support the Colonial Army. Alexander Hamilton wrote that lotteries should be kept simple, and that, "Everybody...will be willing to hazard a trifling sum for the chance of considerable gain...and would prefer a small chance of winning a great deal to a great chance of winning little." Taxes had never been accepted as a way to raise public funding for projects, and this led to the popular belief that lotteries were a form of a hidden tax.
At the end of the Revolutionary War the various states had to resort to lotteries to raise funds for numerous public projects. For many years these lotteries were highly successful and contributed to the nation's rapid growth. The lotteries were used for such diverse projects as the Pennsylvania Schuylkill - Susquehanna Canal (lottery in May, 1795), and Harvard College (lottery in March, 1806).
However, they eventually became a source of financial mismanagement and scandal. Most notorious of the lotteries was the Louisiana State Lottery (1868-1892) which was aptly called the "Golden Octopus" because its tentacles reached into every home in America.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century a large majority of state constitutions banned lotteries. Finally, on July 29, 1890, U.S. President Benjamin Harrison sent a message to Congress demanding "severe and effective legislation" against lotteries. Congress acted swiftly, and banned the U.S. mails from carrying lottery tickets. The Supreme Court upheld the law in 1892, and that brought a complete halt to all lotteries in the U.S.A. by 1900.
When lotteries raised their head again in 1964, it would take many years of constitutional amendements by the various states before the lotteries were allowed to flourish again...and flourish they did.
[edit] Countries with a national lottery
This maneki neko beckons customers to purchase takarakuji tickets in Tokyo, Japan.
[edit] Americas
Argentina: Quiniela, Loto and various others.
Brazil: Mega-Sena and various others
Canada: Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Super 7
Dominican Republic: Lotería Electrónica Internacional Dominicana S.A.
Ecuador: Lotería Nacional
Mexico: Lotería Nacional para la Asistencia Pública
Mexico: Pronósticos para la Asistencia Pública
Mexico: Multijuegos
Puerto Rico: Lotería Tradicional and Lotería Electrónica
[edit] Europe
Pan-European: "Euro Millions"
Nordic countries: Viking Lotto
Austria: Lotto 6 aus 45, "Euro Millions" and Zahlenlotto
Belgium: Loterie Nationale or Nationale Loterij and "Euro Millions"
Bulgaria: TOTO 2 6/49
Croatia: Hrvatska lutrija
Denmark: Lotto, Klasselotteriet
Finland: Lotto
France: La Française des Jeux and "Euro Millions"
Germany: Lotto 6 aus 49 and Spiel 77 and Super 6
Greece: Lotto 6/49 , Joker 5/45 + 1/20 and various others
Hungary: Lottó
Iceland: Lottó
Ireland: The National Lottery, An Chrannchur Náisiúnta and "Euro Millions"
Italy: Lotto, Superenalotto
Latvia: Latloto 5/35, SuperBingo, Keno. Visit: [1]
Luxembourg: "Euro Millions"
Malta: Super 5 (Every Wednesday), Lotto (Lottu in Maltese) (Every Saturday)
Montenegro: Lutrija Crne Gore
Netherlands: Staatsloterij
Norway: Lotto
Poland: Lotto
Portugal: Lotaria Clássica, "Euro Millions" and Lotaria Popular
Romania: Loteria Romana - 6/49, 5/40, Pronosport
Russia: Sportloto
Serbia: Drzavna lutrija Srbije
Slovakia: Tipos, národná lotériová spoločnosť, a.s. operating Loto, Joker, Loto 5 z 35, Euromilióny and various others
Slovenia: Loterija Slovenije
Spain: Loterías y Apuestas del Estado and "Euro Millions"
Sweden: Lotto svenskaspel.se
Switzerland: Swiss Lotto and "Euro Millions"
Turkey: Various games by Milli Piyango İdaresi (National Lottery Administration) including Loto 6/49 and jackpots
United Kingdom: The National Lottery, the main game being Lotto. Also Monday - The Charities Lottery, launched on May 8, 2006.[2] and "Euro Millions"
[edit] Asia
Hong Kong: Mark Six
Israel: "Lotto"
Japan: Takarakuji
Malaysia: Sports Toto, Magnum and Magnum 4D, Pan Malaysian Pools (da ma chai)
Philippines: Philippine Lotto Draw
Singapore: TOTO, 4D
South Korea: Lotto
Taiwan: [3]
Thailand: สลากกินแบ่งรัฐบาล (salak gin bang ratthabarn or "Government Lottery"), also called lottery or หวย (huay).
[edit] Africa
South Africa: South African National Lottery
Kenya :Toto 6/49, Kenya Charity Sweepstake,
[edit] Australia
Australia: Australian Lottery Games, Powerball, Golden Casket
[edit] Country Lottery details
In several countries, lotteries are legalized by the governments themselves. In addition, with the explosion of the internet, several online web-only lotteries and traditional lotteries with online payments have surfaced. In the web-only lotteries, the user has to select his pick and either watch an ad for a few seconds before his pick is confirmed or has to click on a web banner/link to register his pick in the system. The numbers may be drawn by the site that runs the online lotto or might be linked to a major physical lotto draw to ensure reliability. Prize money ranges from $100,000 to $10 million.
[edit] Lottery in the United States
Main article: Lotteries in the United States
In the United States, the existence of lotteries is subject to the laws of each state; there is no national lottery.
Header from 1840 US patent on a new type of private lotteryPrivate lotteries were legal in the United States in the early 1800’s.[1] In fact, a number of US patents were granted on new types of lotteries. In today's vernacular, these would be considered business method patents.
Before the advent of state-sponsored lotteries, many illegal lotteries thrived; for example, see Numbers game and Peter H. Matthews. The first modern state lottery in the U.S. was established in the state of New Hampshire in 1964; today, lotteries are established in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands.
The first modern interstate lottery in the U.S. was formed in 1985 and linked three of the New England states. In 1988, the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) was formed with Oregon, Iowa, Kansas, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Missouri, and the District of Columbia as its charter members; it is best known for its "Powerball" drawing, which is designed to build up very large jackpots. Another interstate lottery, The Big Game (now called Mega Millions), was formed in 1996 by the states of Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia as its charter members. These states were joined by New Jersey (1999), New York and Ohio (2002), Washington (2002), Texas (2003) and California (2005) for a total of 12 members. [4]
Instant lottery tickets, also known as scratch cards, were first introduced in the 1970s and have since become a major source of state lottery revenue. Some states have introduced keno and video lottery terminals (slot machines in all but name).
Other interstate lotteries include Hot Lotto and Wild Card 2, two of MUSL's other games.
With the advent of the Internet it became possible for people to play lottery-style games on-line, many times for free (the cost of the ticket being supplemented by merely seeing, say, a pop-up ad). Three of the many websites which offer free games (after registration) include iwinweekly.com, GuessLotto.com and the larger iWon.com, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAC Search & Media. GTech Corporation, in the United States, administers 70% of the worldwide online and instant lottery business, according to its website. With online gaming rules generally prohibitive, "lottery" games face less scrutiny. This is leading to the increase in web sites offering lottery ticket purchasing services, charging premiums on base lottery prices. The legality of such services falls into question across many jurisdictions, especially throughout the United States, as the gambling laws related to lottery play generally have not kept pace with the spread of technology.
The most recent evolution of the lottery on the internet has appeared on the social network Facebook. The free lottery has weekly drawings and allows people to receive daily lottery tickets and send their friends tickets.
Presently, many state lotteries in the USA donate large portions of their proceeds to the public education system. However these funds frequently replace instead of supplement conventional funding, resulting in no additional money for education.
[edit] Lottery in Canada
Loto-Quebec promotional photoshoot.In Canada prior to 1967 buying a ticket on the Irish Sweepstakes was illegal. In that year the federal Liberal government introduced a special law (an Omnibus Bill) intended to bring up-to-date a number of obsolete laws. The Minister of Justice at that time, Pierre-Elliot Trudeau, sponsored the bill. On September 12, 1967, Mr. Trudeau announced that his government would insert an amendment concerning lotteries.
Even while the Omnibus Bill was still being written, Mayor Jean Drapeau of Montreal, trying to recover some of the money spent on the World’s Fair and the new subway system, announced a "voluntary tax". For a $2.00 donation you would be eligible to participate in a draw with a grand prize of $100 000. According to Mayor Drapeau, this "tax" was not a lottery for two reasons. The prizes were given out in the form of silver bars, not money, and the "competitors" chosen in a drawing would have to reply correctly to four questions about Montreal during a second draw. That competition would determine the value of the prize that the winner would win. The replies to the questions were printed on the back of the ticket and therefore the questions would not cause any undue problems. The inaugural draw was held on May 27, 1968.
There were debates in Ottawa and Quebec City about the legality of this 'voluntary tax'. The Minister of Justice alleged it was a lottery. Montreal’s mayor replied that it did not contravene the federal law. While everyone awaited the verdict, the monthly draws went off without a hitch. Players from all over Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia participated.
On September 14, 1968 the Quebec Appeal Court declared Mayor Drapeau’s "voluntary tax" illegal. However, the municipal authorities did not give up the struggle. The Council announced in November that the City would appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.
As the debate over legalities continued, sales dropped significantly, because many people did not want to participate in anything illegal. Despite offers of new prizes the revenue continued to drop monthly, and by the nineteenth and final draw, was only a little over $800 000.
On December 23, 1969 an amendment was made to the Canadian Criminal Code allowing a provincial government to legally operate lottery systems.
The first provincial lottery in Canada was Quebec's Inter-Loto in 1970. Other provinces and regions introduced their own lotteries through the 1970s, and the federal government ran Loto Canada (originally the Olympic Lottery) for several years starting in the late 1970s to help recoup the expenses of the 1976 Summer Olympics. Lottery wins are generally not subject to Canadian tax, but may be taxable in other jurisdictions, depending on the residency of the winner.[5]
Today, Canada has two nation-wide lotteries: Lotto 6/49, and Lotto Super 7 (which started in 1994). These games are administered by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation, which is a consortium of the five regional lottery commissions, all of which are owned by their respective provincial and territorial governments:
Atlantic Lottery Corporation (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador)
Loto-Québec (Quebec)
Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (Ontario)
Western Canada Lottery Corporation (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, Nunavut)
British Columbia Lottery Corporation (British Columbia)
[edit] Lottery in France
The first known lottery in France was created by King Francis I in or around 1505. After that first attempt, lotteries were forbidden for two centuries.
They reappeared at the end of 17th century, as a "public lottery" for the Paris municipality (called Loterie de L'Hotel de Ville) and as "private" ones for religious orders (mostly for nuns in convents).
Lotteries became quickly one of the most important resources for religious congregations in the 18th century.
Lotteries helped to build or rebuild many churches (about 15 including the biggest ones) in Paris during the 18th century, including St Sulpice and Le Panthéon.
At the beginning of the century, the King avoided having to fund religious orders by giving them the right to run lotteries, but the amounts generated became so large that the second part of the century turned into a struggle between the monarchy and the Church for control of the lotteries. In 1774, the Loterie de L'École Militaire was founded by the monarchy (by Mme de Pompadour to be precise, to buy what is called today the Champ de Mars in Paris, and build a Military Academy that Napoleon Bonaparte would later attend) and all other lotteries, with 3 or 4 minor exceptions, were forbidden.
This lottery became known a few years later as the Loterie Royale de France. Just before the French Revolution in 1789 the revenues from La Lotterie Royale de France were equivalent to between 5 and 7% of total French revenues.
Throughout the 18th century, philosophers like Voltaire as well as some bishops complained that lotteries exploit the poor. This subject has generated much oral and written debate over the morality of the lottery.
All lotteries (including state lotteries) were frowned upon by idealists of the French Revolution, who viewed them as a method used by the rich for cheating the poor out of their wages.
The Lottery reappeared in France in 1936, called loto, when socialists needed to increase state revenue. Since that time, La Française des Jeux (government owned) has had a monopoly on most of the games in France, including the lotteries.
[edit] Lottery in New Zealand
Main article: Lotteries in New Zealand
Lotteries in New Zealand are controlled by the New Zealand government. A state owned trading organisation, the New Zealand Lotteries Commission, operates low prize scratch ticket games and powerball type lotteries with weekly prize jackpots. Lottery profits are distributed by The New Zealand Lottery Grants Board's directly to charities and community organisations. Sport and Recreation New Zealand, Creative New Zealand, and the New Zealand Film Commission are statutory bodies that operate autonomously in distributing their allocations from the Lottery Grants Board.
The lotteries are drawn on Saturday and Wednesday. Lotto is sold via a network of computer terminals in shopping centers across the nation. The Lotto game was first played in 1987 and replaced New Zealand's original national lotteries, the Art Union and the Golden Kiwi. Lotto is a pick 6 from 40 numbers game. The odds of winning the first division prize of around NZ$300,000 to NZ$2 million are 1 in 3,838,380.
The Powerball game is the standard pick 6 from 40 lotto numbers with an additional pick 1 from 8 powerball number. This game has odds of 1 in 30,707,040 and a first prize of between NZ$1million and NZ$15million. Big Wednesday is a game played by picking 6 numbers from 45 plus heads or tails from a coin toss. A jackpot cash prize of NZ$1million to NZ$15 million is supplemented with product prizes such as Porsches, boats and holiday homes. The odds of winning first prize are 1 in 16,290,120. Results services for these games can be found at NZ Lotto Results.
[edit] Probability of winning
The chances of winning a lottery jackpot are principally determined by several factors: the count of possible numbers, the count of winning numbers drawn, whether or not order is significant and whether drawn numbers are returned for the possibility of further drawing.
In a typical 6 from 49 lotto, 6 numbers are drawn from 49 and if the 6 numbers on a ticket match the numbers drawn, the ticket holder is a jackpot winner - this is true regardless of the order in which the numbers are drawn. The odds of being the jackpot winner are approximately 1 in 14 million (13,983,816 to be exact). The derivation of this result (and other winning scores) is shown in the Lottery mathematics article. To put these odds in context, suppose one buys one lottery ticket per week. 13,983,816 weeks is roughly 269,000 years; In the quarter-million years of play, one would only expect to win the jackpot once.
The odds of winning any actual lottery can vary widely depending on lottery design. Mega Millions is a very popular multi-state lottery in the United States which is known for jackpots that grow very large from time to time. This attractive feature is made possible simply by designing the game to be extremely difficult to win: 1 chance in 175,711,536. That's over twelve times higher than the example above. Mega Millions players also pick six numbers, but two different "bags" are used. The first five numbers come from one bag that contains numbers from 1 to 56. The sixth number -- the "Mega Ball number" -- comes from the second bag, which contains numbers from 1 to 46. To win a Mega Millions jackpot, a player's five regular numbers must match the five regular numbers drawn and the Mega Ball number must match the Mega Ball number drawn. In other words, it is not good enough to pick 10, 18, 25, 33, 42 / 7 when the drawing is 7, 10, 25, 33, 42 / 18. Even though the player picked all the right numbers, the Mega Ball number at the end of the ticket doesn't match the one drawn, so the ticket would be credited with matching only four numbers (10, 25, 33, 42).
The SuperEnalotto of Italy is supposedly the most difficult where players try to match 6 numbers out of 90. The odds in making the jackpot: 1 in 622,614,630.
Most lotteries give lesser prizes for matching just some of the winning numbers. The Mega Millions game is an extreme case, giving a very small payout (US$2) even if a player matches only the Mega Ball number at the end of your ticket. Matching more numbers, the payout goes up. Although none of these additional prizes affect the chances of winning the jackpot, they do improve the odds of winning something and therefore add a little to the value of the ticket. In most lotteries, if a large amount of smaller prizes are awarded, the jackpot will be reduced, in a similar manner that if the jackpot is divided if multiple players have tickets with all the winning numbers.
In the UK National Lottery the smallest prize is £10 for matching three balls. There exists a Wheeling Challenge to create the smallest set of tickets to cover enough combinations to ensure that any 6 numbers drawn will match against at least 3 numbers on at least one of the tickets. The current record is 163 tickets.
The expected value of lottery bets is often notably bad. In the United States, an expected value of 50% of the purchase price is common. For instance, when the player buys a lottery ticket for, say, $10 he obtains a financial asset with an expected value of only $5. Hence, buying a lottery ticket reduces the buyers expected net worth. This is in contrast with financial securities like stocks and bonds whose prices are theoretically based on their expected real values, as expected by the markets at any given point in time.
In a famous occurrence, a Polish-Irish businessman named Stefan Klincewicz bought up almost all of the 1,947,792 combinations available on the Irish lottery. He and his associates paid less than one million Irish pounds while the jackpot stood at £1.7 million. There were three winning tickets, but with the "Match 4" and "Match 5" prizes, Klincewicz made a small profit overall.
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Don’t fall for sales pitches; eBay businesses take work
By BILL RADFORD THE GAZETTE
May 13, 2007 - 7:13AM
Strike it rich on eBay. Make money the eBay way. The secrets to proven eBay success!
Books and seminars abound touting easy riches from eBay, the online auction house that draws millions of buyers. But before you quit your day job, consider this old adage, says certified eBay instructor Terry Gehrke: “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”
That doesn’t mean you can’t make money — and even a living — selling on eBay.
“I have several clients who are stayat-home moms with children and are building some nice little businesses,” Gehrke said. And Gehrke himself makes what he calls a full-time income working part-time selling books on eBay.
But starting and operating an eBay or online business — developing the site, finding a source of product, dealing with customers — takes time and effort, he said. And even then, there’s no guarantee of success.
“If you treat eBay as a hobby, it’s going to generate hobby income,” he said.
Henry Ehle is looking at eBay as a way to make some money selling computer parts from a previous business. “I may not get much out of it,” he said, “but at least I can get rid of it.” If sales merit it and he finds a source for more equipment at a low-enough price, it could lead to an online business, he said. In March, he attended a seminar presented by Clickincome, which calls itself the pioneer in Internet educational products and services. He was among about four dozen people who attended the first of three free seminars that day in Colorado Springs, attracted by promises of “Learn how to make an eBay living” and “Make your eBay business fly in 30 days!”
Speaker Michael Sheridan shared how he started an eBay business by selling some old tennis rackets.
“I knew nothing about the Internet,” he said. “I was a blank canvas, but one with gumption.”
Sheridan offered tips on selling on eBay, but much of the presentation was spent promoting a second, longer seminar a few days later, costing $99.
“I went there because I wanted to learn more about eBay,” said Ehle, who signed up for the second seminar. “I did learn a few things,” he acknowledged, but much of the second presentation was a sales pitch to sign up people for a program that involves selling Web sites to others.
For their $99, people also were offered software to set up a Web site — though they faced a monthly hosting fee of $29.95, plus more if they wanted to arrange a merchant account through Clickincome allowing them to conduct credit-card transactions online.
They also were given a year’s free membership in Clickincome’s Click Club, which promises a variety of products at wholesale prices and offers drop shipping, sending products directly to a customer on behalf of the online entrepreneur.
“The allure of that is you can list anything that you think might be interesting and you don’t have to stockpile it in your home,” said Donna Austin, a Colorado Springs woman who as a certified eBay education specialist teaches classes on eBay basics. But since you don’t control the supply of product, it’s your reputation that suffers if the drop shipper runs out of something promised a buyer, Austin said. And some drop shippers are scams, offering poor-quality merchandise or prices that don’t allow for profit by the seller. Austin got her start on eBay as a buyer and then began selling, finding bargains at Goodwill and elsewhere and selling them for a profit. She went on to train with eBay.
While Austin teaches the basics of selling on eBay, Gehrke has many clients interested in going a step further and starting an online business: His advice: If your objective is to sell a few things online after cleaning out the garage or closet, learn the basics of eBay and sell there. If the idea is to have a business with continuous product, consider setting up an eBay shop — essentially a Web site within eBay. Monthly fees start at $15.95; you also pay eBay a small listing fee and a percentage of the sale.
The advantage of an eBay shop over an independent Web site, he said, “is you’ve got eyeballs. You’ve got millions of people every minute on eBay.”
To attract those eyeballs, find a distinctive niche, he said. Don’t try to sell what’s hot; there’s typically big competition and thus little profit in selling items such as iPods and plasma-screen TVs.
Gehrke operates one eBay store that sells only construction-related books and another that’s devoted to books about eBay.
“What really sells and does the best are the niche markets, the speciality markets. If you have an interest in something, I guarantee you there are thousands of other people out in the world who have an interest also.”
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or bill.radford@gazette.com
GETTING AN EBAY EDUCATION
New to eBay?
Find tutorials on how to sell and buy at ebay.com. Click on “Learning Center” at the bottom of the page.
Certified eBay education specialists are trained by eBay but are not employed or affiliated with eBay Inc. Donna Austin, a Colorado Springs eBay education specialist, teaches group classes on “The Basics of Selling on eBay.” Go to www.geekytutor .com for details.
Terry Gehrke, an eBay education specialist in Denver, offers group and private training ranging from eBay basics to starting an eBay business.
www.terrygehrke.com.
Want to sell, but don’t want to learn?
Trading assistants are experienced eBay sellers who will sell your items for you on eBay for a fee; go to http://pages.ebay.com/tahub/index .html to find trading assistants in the area.
Consider It Sold, 3926 N. Academy Blvd., serves the same role for a percentage of the purchase price. Phone: 550-1191.
AFTER THE SALE
So, you’ve set up your eBay shop, you’ve got a reliable source of product and sales are taking off. You’ve got it made, right?
Wrong, says Jim Reeder, co-owner of Consider It Sold, a Colorado Springs business that handles eBay sales for sellers.
“The front end — somebody brings something in, you decide whether or not you want to sell it, you take the pictures, you post it — that’s the easy part,” he said.
It’s the back end, after the sale, that often is the biggest hassle and consumes the most time, Reeder said. Problems with payments, missing shipments and damaged merchandise can add up to a big headache, he said.
On top of that, the seller must always be on the watch for fraud, such as a buyer who lies in claiming a product arrived broken.
“There are just hundreds and hundreds of different ways to get scammed.”
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Budget programs?
Im looking for a worthy budget program for figure out my finances for my household. Any suggestionsAnswers: I own an Excel worksheet I created and hold be using for years.
If you'd resembling a copy, simply tolerate me know! I'm more than festive to share it!
Quicken or MS Money is apt but...........Check out this awesome site. It's loaded beside freeware which is exactly what it say, free. You are usually requested, but not required, to "donate" a duty to the software publisher. Have found abundant great programs and tools for adjectives types of category. I do donate to those programs which I use and are devoted. Link...........
http://www.freewarehome.com/
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What is and comfortable passageway to label 3500 lolly summarily?
Answers: Borrow $10,000 beside no interest or @ massively low interest.
Invest $10,000 at 35% a year and trade name $3,500.
This is an natural means of access to breed $3,500 bread quickly/
I enjoy invested within my friend's business and presently I am getting guaranteed 40% annual interest. He still wants investors. You may email me for more information.
Don't invest within stocks. It's risky. As you are a apprentice at this sort of article ask financial advisor.
I will you nouns!
You can try borrowing money from Prosper.com
http://www.prosper.com?referrer=ustfu&ut...
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I know zilch something like online marketing, but I still earn $1200 later month giving away a free ebook.
Goals for 2008 guidance?
I'm within financial troubles and i'm really trying to stockpile because my boyfriend and i are really surrounded by stipulation to move out of my parents house (there are no problems its only i want to be independent again) the problem is that when i work my *** stale I tend to spend money on frivolous stuff. This year I would approaching to break away from those traditions and salvage more money. Also is it a better concordat to buy a used motor from profusely (is it really cheaper surrounded by the long run) or be in motion to an actual dealership and bring a newer (meaning not so elder used car) or used sports car.This query may seem to be retarted but I really do inevitability suggestion on that!
Answers: Your grill is not retarded. In reality, it is one of the better ones I own see. I have spending issues resembling you. I would spend on frivolous things. I be up belated one night-also avoiding the phone during the day-I saw an info mercial for a FINANCIAL FREEDOM workshop(garbage I thought). I hear a man say aloud that he take his profits from his brief and puts aside a dependable amount for his bills, a abiding amount for abiding and consequently he PAYS HIMSELF-he puts aside an allowance for him and his familial to use for the fun stuff. I tried it and yes, it works! I appropriate the amount for my frivolous stuff and at the extremity of the month-i look at how much it is and want if i want it to be in motion final into the kitty or if i want to spend it. I be competent to accumulate up $$$ and when we go on a time off, i have the most money because of how i have set aside PLAY MONEY. The saloon issue is other a hot topic. My dad have purchased a brand foreign truck near 45 miles on it from the dealer-in the first month we have it, it be within the shop 8 times! It be a lemon. There is a dealership here call CarMax and the cars are guranteed. You can do a sports car fax history report-this tell you the history of the sports car, if it have be contained by any accident etc. I enjoy purchased cars from the broadsheet and own have pretty upright luck there-again buyer beware. The best point we did be buy a 99 mini van from a seller 5 years ago. It be and still is the best driving vehicle. I hope this help you.
adjectives the best for u r adjectives beside a appropriate luck .very soon adays companys providing,cheeper vehicle contained by the marketplace if u want 2 use for business shift for a ney saloon or homely try beside a old-fashioned saloon and preffer 2 buy investigational saloon afterwords.
Opening a Certificate of Deposit and how much can be earn total?
I am trying to unseal a disc beside mound of america. I hold to put contained by $5000 and the APY is 5.00%. It will stay put for 4 months. How much will I earn after I win spinal column the money? I am guessing $50 contained by 4 months which is not much? Am I right? Any comments? How does a disc work? Is it protected and will I take adjectives my money subsidise and after some? Is this considered an investment?Answers: a compact disc is a road to invest your money for a confident amount of time for a set interest rate. In proclaim to integer out how much you would earn on a compact disc you stipulation to know the APY which you influence is 5% so you appropriate the amount you are investing, which is 5000 and you multiply that by 0.05, that you will present you the amount you earn surrounded by a year, divide that by 12 and it will dispense you around the amount you earn a month. This is a moment ago an estimate.
If you do not touch the money for the possession of the cd you will get hold of your money subsidise and afterwards some and yes it is sheltered and yes it is considered an investment.
Moneymoneymoney!?
Im 16 and ineed money, express! Im so broke. I other here of job that you can do contained by your house and achieve salaried, but thats for race similar to 18 and elder. Anyone know of a process for me ot gain money vigorous?Answers: Money comes from work.
Babysitting is quite traditional.
Shoveling snow is seasonal and is serious work, but pays capably.
Raking leaves and/or a mixture of other patio work for your local seniors.
Tutoring is well-mannered money, if you excel surrounded by a subject your report card is credentials plenty.
haha. everyones dream. lol. but a hastily way--> waitress at hooters. plentifully of guys carry drunk and exit HUGE tips. my friend who is 16 works nearby and make 350 a dark contained by tips. no deceit. subsequent tim you be in motion to hooters, ask them how much they seize on a middle-of-the-road hours of darkness. seriously.
Does switching of funds increase the returns on MF's?
Answers: Potentially if you travel from a impossible fund to a better one. A lot of times you are basically chasing returns. The best function to swith funds is if your investment aim change.
Re loadable MasterCard - enjoy you have one? sound out inside:?
yeah i'd similar to to take a reloadable mastercard because i am merely 16 and can't hold a actual credit card but near are some things that i would similar to to purchase online and can't because of not have a credit card. so my put somebody through the mill is:does anyone know for sure if i can use a re-loadable mastercard to produce ONLINE purchases?
i'm not chitchat in the region of the MUCH card. i be going to resembling the one you can merely buy at the store, it comes contained by a moment or two flimsy cardboard defence thingy and in attendance is approaching a $4 and something cent activation charge, where on earth as the MUCH card charge is close to almost $30. if i enjoy to compensate $30 because the re-loadable mastercard doesn't work online consequently i will.... but it's faster to draw from the re-loadable card because it's right within the store where on earth as i own to apply online for the MUCH card and continue weeks.
the mastercard is pretty much instant - and cheaper. :P
so if anyone could share their scholarship next to me that would be cool. oh yeah i live surrounded by ontario canada contained by luggage that make any difference. thnx..
Answers: Normally you own to be 18 to enjoy a reloadable card contained by your pet name. However you parents can purchase one for your use. They are in truth a angelic financial tool because you can just spend