Business Principles

The prosperity of Americans is not equally distributed among the population. According to the Bureau of the Census, between 12 and 15 percent of the population in any given year live in poverty. This means that these people are poorly housed, clothed, and fed. Many live in inner-city slums or in rural areas. Statistics suggest that the richest 20 percent of American families have continued to earn more over the past 30 years, whereas the income of the lowest fifth has remained about the same....

As the population grows, so does the labor force. The labor force includes most people aged 16 or over who are available for work, whether employed or unemployed. Of course, many of the people in the labor force may be available for work but are not actively seeking employment, such as students and full-timehomemakers. In a recent year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the size of the American labor force was almost 140 million. Figure 2-2 shows the growth of the labor force. The labor...

Americans are people on the move. Every year, on average, one out of five Americans changes his or her address. People move short distances, often from cities to suburbs. They also move long distances,such as from the Frost Belt, the colder northern half of the country, to the Sun Belt, the warmer southernhalf of the nation. As businesses relocate to where customers are located, they affect where other people move to in order to find jobs. For example, factories have relocated to the southeastern...

The nature of the population has been changing, too. Currently, more than 80 percent of Americans can be racially classified as Caucasian. Because of higher birth rates among nonwhite Hispanics and African-Americans, and recent immigration, their proportions in the population have been growing. This growingdiversity of the workforce increases the need for better cross-cultural communication and sensitivity to the interests and concerns of various groups. Changes in the birth rate have caused shifts...

The population of the United States has grown steadily over the years, as shown in Figure 2-1. The growth rate is largely determined by the birth rate, the death rate, and the level of immigration into the country. Generally, as the standard of living increases, the birth rate falls, and this has been the case in the United States. At the same time, because of better health care and an improved public health system,people are living much longer. Much of the population increase takes place through...

The gross domestic product (GDP) of a country cannot increase unless there are enough people to provide the necessary labor and to purchase the goods and services produced. Population statistics enable businesses to plan how much and what kinds of goods and services to offer. However, the GDP of a country must grow at a faster rate than its population in order to improve living standards. Both the size and the characteristics of the population are important in business planning. Information about...

Since its establishment more than 225 years ago, the United States has become the world’s leading economic, technical, and political power. The country has the world’s largest economy and relies on highly sophisticated and modern means of production, transportation, and communication. Americans enjoy a veryhigh standard of living. All these achievements can be attributed to the enormous resources that the country possesses: the ingenuity of its people, a democratic form of government, a social...