Skip to main content

Summer and Fall Course Registration open now. Register today to get the courses you need!

Due to weather conditions, all classes today, Friday, March 31, will be held as scheduled. Saturday, April 1, in-person classes and services will start at 10:00 a.m. Online classes and services will occur as scheduled. Please check email for further details.
Metropolitan State University (Home)

ECON 313 Labor Economics

This course assesses the role of labor as a production factor in the economy, as well as the factors affecting the supply of, and demand for, labor. Topics include: determinants of labor supply and demand; analysis of labor markets; theories of wages and employment; income and wage inequality among occupations, industries and regions; the role of labor unions and collective bargaining as they affect supply and demand conditions; and the relationships among wages, inflation, unemployment and government policies.

Prerequisites

4 Undergraduate credits

Effective August 1, 1998 to present

Meets graduation requirements for

Learning outcomes

General

  • Develop a deeper understanding of the role labor markets play in our economy, and current labor policy issues being discussed and debated.
  • Analyze the effects of public policy on the labor market.
  • Develop a framework for understanding how wages are determined and apply this framework to novel situations.
  • Use the framework's economic concepts to evaluate the effects of exogenous changes on wages, including public policy changes.

Minnesota Transfer Curriculum

Goal 5: History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition.
  • Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures.
  • Use and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories.
  • Develop and communicate alternative explanations or solutions for contemporary social issues.