Paolo recently lost his job as a waiter at a local restaurant. a recent increase in the minimum wage keeps local employers from adding more of the low-skill positions for which he qualifies, so he has been unable to find work. he continues to look for a job, but he's considering going back to school for vocational training. the following table shows data on frictional, cyclical, structural, and total unemployment for an economy.
unemployment type rate (percent)
frictional 1.1
cyclical 0.0
structural 3.2
total unemployment 4.3
true or false: this economy is not currently at its natural rate of unemployment.
a) true
b) false

Activity-based costing (abc) is not truly a cost collection mechanism as much as it is an inventory valuation method. the main purpose for implementing an activity-based cost system is to try to overcome some of the cost distortions that occur in traditional costing from product differences when there are variations in size and complexity. however, one of the disadvantages of utilizing abc is that the additional information gathering necessary to implement costing with that level of detail might be beyond the reach of some companies with resource or financial constraints. with this in mind, what kinds of industries or companies do you think would benefit most from using activity-based costing and why? in designing or modifying an accounting system to capture appropriate costs for abc, what considerations do you think would need to be made?