Analyzing Amy Adkins A World Without Work

In today’s society, a college degree has become a requirement in order to obtain a well occupied profession. Prior to the recession, which the study defines as the period between December 2007 and June 2009, bachelor's graduates were already more likely to be employed than were associate degree holders, who were more likely to be employed than those without any postsecondary degree. After the recession, employment of college graduates dropped 7 percent, while associate degree holders experienced an 11 percent drop, and employment of high school graduates fell 16 percent. The percent of people excluded from the workforce, meaning they were seeking work but couldn’t find it, rose 31 percent for college graduates, 37 percent for high school graduates, and 50 percent for associate degree graduates, though associate degree holders were still excluded at a lower rate than high school graduates (Tilsley, 2013).

In Kenyon MacDonald's personal essay "Unemployed " (2016) he assures you will have struggles, troubles and difficulties in life but you will grasp and grow from them. He goes on to narrate one of the worst experiences of his life, being terminated from a job with State Farm. The author does not regard the reality that he did not appreciate the job and there were opportunities that he took for granted. The indented audience for this essay would be the younger generation who have the same mind-set as him.

An increase in the unemployment rate means that more individuals do not have an income, thus meaning many households suffer reduced disposable funds. This causes a decrease in the level of aggregate demand within the economy and therefore reduces economic growth. This in turn causes a slower circular flow of income, meaning that households may be forced into or past poverty, as a result of the lowered income generated, reducing the living standards and quality of life. The downturn experienced by the economy can also offset many individuals seeing them not wanting to return back to the workforce due to the lack of jobs available, making them long-term unemployed rather than cyclically unemployed, or if the firm initially was promoting structural change, structurally unemployed. Combined with poverty, the aspect of unemployment can lead to other severe mental health issues and illness reaching extremes.

As the future approaches, automation and technology are quickly evolving and diminishing the amount of jobs available for Americans. American work-life has evolved drastically over the years. Certain jobs are being replaced by drones and robots, leaving many Americans unemployed. It has caused a slight shift in how we work. However, the continuation of work is still alive. In the article “A World Without Work,” (2015) the author Derek Thompson expresses how people are losing their jobs. Nevertheless, they’re using their hobbies and talents to generate money. Someone might sell their poetry and written work when they have lost their job generating income while also fostering creativity. President Nixon’s “Address to The Nation on Labor

Meltzer et al., (1995) argues that the unemployed and unskilled have more mentally unstable symptoms compared to those in employment. Also, the fear of being unemployed and job insecurity has a disadvantageous effect on health (Bartley et al., 1996).

Roszak makes a point in his essay about jobs being our salvation, where he describe there is no end to a working life. Roszak describes the waste of time in people’s jobs and that most employees don’t even put all of their effort into them. He figures

In “The Abolition of Work” by Bob Black, work is depicted as the cause of all problems of the world today. Bob argues that the only way the world’s problems will end is when people realize that they need to stop working. He proposes the adoption of playful ways of doing things in life rather than having to work. While “Summertime Dues” Walter Kirn uses his experience in a summer job to question the integrity and usefulness of such jobs to the youth. While summer jobs are supposed to instill responsibility and character in youths, both Bob Black have a similar voice on why working and can cause misery and not really teach anyone, anything.

The modern day American society hosts a broad spectrum of industries with various occupations and professions to engage today’s workforce. America, much like most first world countries is a service economy based on the exchange of knowledge and expertise rather than materials and products. People have a long history of work and work evolution that has ultimately brought America to a service economy producing both strengths and weaknesses within the society and its economy. As America has moved to a service economy, much of the manufacturing and production jobs have moved oversees to third world countries creating a reliance on other economies. This globalization of the workforce as well as unionization, and the

In the past decade, unemployment has been a major issue in this country. Individuals rely on their work to be able to provide many basic life requirements. A person’s career can provide more than just physical needs and this would include creative urges, promote self-esteem, and encourage personal achievements. Therefore, when a person becomes unemployed, they might experience anxiety and depression. This could lead to lower self-esteem especially when the search for work continues long term without any success. These new health issues can lead to increased health issues and the development of new disease states. This correlation among the unemployed patient population and the increase of mental health and new disease states should be

In “A World without Work,” Derek Thompson argues that in the near future, technology will remove the need for the American workforce, thus causing a major problem in the

In the second seminar, Aditya Chakrabortty’s article ‘Why our jobs are getting worse’ provides us a great standpoint of work reality and explains the reason of why people no longer enjoy going to work. Similar to Ritzer, He believed more and more occupations are changing

K.Moser found that unemployment was a key factor in health issues in society, mortality rates were higher for those who were unemployed and the prospect of unemployment is detrimental to the health of an individual. M.H.Brenner (1977) suggested loss of a job is like bereavement but isn’t seen or respect as such (7).

John Burges and William Mitchell state that unemployment trend has acted as a “social exclusion perpetrated against particular sections of the community, in general the young, old, poor and uneducated” (1998). The issue then lays in the trade off between the

Sociologists study human society. Their subject matter includes human behaviour in various social contexts, social interaction, social institutions and organisation, social change and development (Haralmbos, Van Krieken, Smith & Holborn 1999). For this reason, unemployment is an issue which sociologists delve. Unemployment has far reaching affects in all areas of society. Stratification in the areas of age, race, class, gender, ethnicity, sex and disability is rife amongst the employed and unemployed alike, unemployment creates further segregation amongst these already stratified people. This essay will look at unemployment from the functional and conflict theory

The evidence that unemployment has negative effects on mental health is strong. Mental health effects on young unemployed people include low self esteem and confidence