Question

The Bureau of Labor Statistics1 in the US tells us that, in 2010, the unemployment rate for high school graduates with no college degree is 9.7% while the unemployment rate for college graduates with a bachelor's degree is only 5.2%. Find the difference in proportions of those unemployed between these two groups and give the correct notation for the difference, with a minus sign. Since the data come from the census, you can assume that the values are from a population rather than a sample. Use the correct notation for population proportions and use subscripts on the proportions to identify the two groups. Assume high school graduates with no college degree are group 1 and college graduates with a bachelor's degree are group 2.

Answer 1

Answer:

$p_1 -p_2 = 0.097-0.052 = 0.045$

So then the difference between the two proportions is 0.045 and if we convert this into % we got

$0.045*100= 4.5%$

Step-by-step explanation:

For this case we can define the following notation:

$p_1$ represent the unemployment rate for high school graduates with no college degree

$p_2$ represent the unemployment rate for college graduates with a bachelor's degree

And for this case we need to find the difference in proportions of those unemployed between these two groups, we want to find:

$p_1 -p_2$

From the info given we have $p_1 = \frac{9.7}{100}=0.097$

$p_2 = \frac{5.2}{100}=0.052$

And the difference:

$p_1 -p_2 = 0.097-0.052 = 0.045$

So then the difference between the two proportions is 0.045 and if we convert this into % we got

$0.045*100= 4.5%$