Unemployment is one of the greatest social evils in our society today. This is because of the unfriendly impacts it has on the economy. Unemployment brings about poverty and hopelessness among individuals in society. In addition, weird behavior is also encouraged by this phenomenon. For instance, stealing and robbery cases thrive as a result of unemployment. In essence, unemployment is an economic condition where individuals in a particular region try their best to seek jobs but get none. This document will specifically concentrate on the general view of unemployment, its types, and some government policies as well as unemployment rate plus the top three states with the rates of unemployment.
There are many types of unemployment. However, this paper will focus basically on three types. They include frictional unemployment, structural unemployment, and cyclical unemployment. Frictional unemployment appears during a period when an individual is searching for a job or changing from one job to the other. This could be voluntary or involuntary depending on the situation at hand. The labor force here is provided by individuals who have either been registered for the job or those who are willing to work and capable of taking up the job. The rate of individuals who are not employed is directly proportional to the individuals who are providing the labor force.
Structural unemployment is a scenario where jobless cases arise as a result of long-term revolutionization in the prototype of demand for goods as well as methods of production. For instance, a modern manager of a particular company decides to introduce new machines in the production processes. Some individuals who don’t know how to operate these machines will be compelled to leave thus a job is lost. Basically, structural unemployment results from structural changes within the organization that eventually leaves out some employees who do not have pertinent skills for the new look organizational structure.
To give an example of this type of unemployment, in the UK, steel and coal were the major resources used in various industries during ancient times. Employment opportunities were vast during this time. However, as the country became modernized, the methods of production were transformed. There was the introduction of computers and electronics. Individuals who were illiterate in operating these devices lost their jobs. It’s during this period that cases of joblessness arose. This is generally termed structural unemployment.
Cyclical unemployment occurs depending on the phases in business. It’s a type of employment that relates to the cyclical tendencies in the intensification and fabrication that takes place within the industrial cycles. Whenever the business cycle hits the highest point, the whole economical productivity is maximized. This implies that the number of cases related to cyclical employment will be minimal. Nevertheless, at whatever time there is a decline in economical productivity as a result of a fall in the business cycles, the cases of cyclical unemployment will tend to be on the increase (Snower & Dehesa, 1997).
Lesser demand for products in an organization is due to lack of confidence in consumers, lack of concern, and decline in the interest of the consumer to spend leading to a corresponding decrease in the number of goods produced. The decrease in the production of merchandise prompts the retailers to also down on the production. This creates more room for cyclical unemployment. Business cycles have a shorter duration. Conversely, long-term economic factors create depression. This is a result of severe unemployment for a long duration.
For a country to combat depression, governments may possibly take action by lowering levies plus other interest rates to advance the demand and expenditure of the customers and create jobs too. This was practiced by the US government during the extremely difficult economic times (Great Depression). Through this, more jobs were offered, and the economy improved at the inception of World War II.
There are however a number of factors that can assist in the creation of cyclical unemployment. Whenever work that has since traditionally been performed by the withholders is exposed, then unemployment rates are probable to be boosted. Retraining and rehiring will be necessary for the jobs arising jobs If this is not done, then individuals may go through lengthy periods of unemployment.
Full employment is a situation in which all the available labor resources are utilized economically and efficiently to achieve the very best desired motive. Full employment involves the incorporation of both skilled as well as unskilled labor in a very effective way. In order to measure employment as well as unemployment, the sector of labor has to determine the individual persons to measure for the job. Full employment nevertheless requires that all the needs for the workers are catered for. These needs in simple terms are the rights to get a job. Full employment entails all the workers who have turned up for the job to acquire the specific job without any one of them missing (Baumol & Blinder, 2008).
Sometimes difficult situations arise with matters linked to time. This situation in the end makes it hard to achieve full employment. There are periods where farming and construction activities have reduced. These are major seasons where most individuals turn up for the job. However, during seasons when there is plenty of rainfall, most people engage themselves in planting as well as construction activities. During these periods, it’s always difficult for full employment to be achieved.
The same case is exactly what happens to students. During end terms and closure times, while the majority of them are graduating, there is a possibility of the majority of them who are job seekers looking for employment. During these times, full employment can be attained. Nonetheless, the reverse happens when they are in school. It’s only a few individuals who turn up for the job thus making it difficult to attain full employment.
All the systems of governance have policies on how certain duties should be exercised to regulate cases of unemployment. The policies in the US directly attribute to most of the economic imbalances faced by some individuals. One of the policies was that individuals who were non-workers were provided with an unemployment insurable benefit.
Most leaders in various countries of the world tend to motivate the citizens to try their best and seek jobs. The citizens are always advised to work individually before getting something to eat. They are also advised not to be dependant on others. However, the reverse happens with Americans. The Americans had been granted an unemployment insurance benefit. This insurance benefit was however increased from twenty-five weeks to thirty-six weeks which is equivalent to two years. It’s therefore exposed from this policy that unemployment is greatly supported by the United States of America.
Whenever there is growth in the economy of the United States of America as a result of the increase in production of goods or when the business cycle is at its peak, there is a corresponding increase in the amount of capital. Therefore taxes are highly imparted on the goods then collected. What is surprising is that the total taxes collected are all channeled towards jobless individuals. From this, it can be seen that the governmental policies in the United States of America to some extent promote unemployment and appreciates it through the several services of support offered.
The most shocking fact is that at present, the number of people in the United States who are jobless is 14.6 million while only 2.9 million workers have successfully acquired a job. This may not however be too shocking since the majority of these unemployment cases are attributable to different factors. Some factors that make individuals lose a job may be genuine while other factors may not necessarily be genuine. This is conversely what brings about the different types of unemployment.
The levels of joblessness vary from one country to another. Consequently, some countries tend to have higher rates of cases on unemployment. On the other hand, some other countries bear a few numbers of individuals who have this problem. This has facilitated the need for rating cities in the United States according to the number of cases of unemployment experienced within the particular states.
According to the results of the monthly ranking of states seasonally of November 2010, the state with the largest number of cases of unemployment was North Dakota with a percentage rate of 3.8. This was followed by South Dakota with a percentage rate of 4.5. Nebraska took the third position closely following South Dakota. The state had a 4.7% unemployment rate, only 0.2 less than South Dakota. These results reflect the present condition of the states in the United States. The question in mind is whether the Americans will be able to rejuvenate and bounce back to their former position (Barber & Mc Callum, 1980).
In conclusion, the condition that is being experienced by the United States should be blamed on the leaders. However, this may not be the end. The US should borrow a leaf from other countries which are not going through the same problem. Rules which don’t have a major contribution to the economy should be done away with and other new constructive ideas implemented. It will generally be difficult for the implementation of new laws that may have emerged. In such a case, the implementation should be made mandatory such that individuals who violate them are faced with stern measures. Most Americans may not see the importance of these rules during the implementation process. They may realize this in the future. Fruitful achievements such as the growth of the economy of the country should not be done away with because of some compact majority who are against the implementation process.
Reference List
Barber L. C., & Mc Callum J. (1980) Unemployment and Inflammation: the Canadian experience. New York: Penguin Books.
Baumol J. W., & Blinder S. A. (2008) Economics – principles and policy. New York: McGraw Hill Irwin.
Snower, D., & dehesa, G. (1997) Unemployment Policy: government options for the labor market. Milan: Cambridge University Press.