Factors Influencing Unemployment

Many different jobs and careers can be treated as replacement goods in a market, meaning that the pursuit of one will take away from the opportunity to become qualified for another. In this way, many jobs, such as those that require technical degrees as opposed to bachelor degrees, may find themselves with more available jobs than applicants, as many who would have pursued technical degrees instead take advantage of the opportunity for free continued education. Due to this imbalance of skills and needs in the economy, many of these technically-demanding jobs may be performed with less expertise and skill because there is not enough competition to drive the work quality of the employees up. Also due to this lowered supply of technical workers the equilibrium price to hire the technical workers will increase, which may harm and ultimately end the existence of smaller companies that were formerly able to pay less for their

In Canada, better educated workers, are a “trend which has fundamentally changed the character of the labour force […] Business and government have argued that additional education and training and an overhaul of the education system to make the job more relevant, will help Canada become more competitive internationally” (Krahn, Hughes and Lowe 65). With a better educated workforce, our economy will see substantial developments. In the next 10 to 15 years if we continue this trend of employing educated individuals, it will greatly improve our economy and intern will have an effect on the way our government is

The need for education for more and more low-skill workers and is increasing with the changing of the skills needing to perform the tasks that are required by the industry of their choosing.

Unemployment mostly occurs when one has lost his/her job and spends quit time looking for a new job. “The U.S. unemployment rate was certainly too high in 1975, and most economists would agree that it is too high today.” ( Lucas Jr, P.257-263). Even though

I want to pursue this question, because the issue of unemployment is very crucial to any society in the world. It is a major indicator of economic and social prosperity. John Maynard Keynes describes it as "one of the principle faults of capitalism".

The causes of unemployment are diverse, at present we are faced with different types of unemployment which are as follows: 1. Voluntary unemployment this shows people who are reluctant to work at the current wage rate. Voluntary unemployment is a national waste of human energy which is

Unemployment can be down to individuals characteristics, they may have become unemployed through their own fault such as misconduct. An individual may also not be trying hard enough to find work, preferring to get benefits instead. The government has responded to this by making benefits for the unemployed harder to get as they have to prove they are actively seeking work, this comes after claims benefits take away incentives to work.

Unemployment is a problem faced by all nations only that it varies in degree (Teichova & Matis, 2003). Reduction in its levels promotes economic growth and development in any country. There are various types of unemployment which include voluntary unemployment, involuntary unemployment, frictional unemployment, cyclical unemployment, structural unemployment and seasonal unemployment. Voluntary unemployment is where workers willingly leave the jobs they are holding and go to look for better ones. Involuntary unemployment on the other hand is where workers are fired or laid off from their jobs and need to find new ones. Frictional unemployment is where workers take some time before they can secure a job after leaving a certain job. This is a type of unemployment faced by many people since they leave jobs without having already secured new ones. Cyclic unemployment is the type of unemployment that is dependent on economic cycles of recession and boom (Cogley & Sargent 2005). As the economy enters into recession, some companies respond by cutting on the level of production hence laying off workers since they are not in full production. Cyclic unemployment naturally ends during boom. Structural unemployment on the other hand is the type of unemployment where some labor markets have more workers than the total jobs available (Jena, Kandalam & Sun, 2009). Also, it can occur where the

This essay will compare and contrast alternative views on the nature and possible causes of unemployment. It will then go on to evaluate the effectiveness of demand and supply management policies that try and combat unemployment. I will be discussing unemployment in two parts- short run and long run and evaluating the effectiveness of demand and supply management policies that combat unemployment for each.

Further, Shierholz (2014) presents evidence regarding high unemployment at all levels of education since the Great Recession (Figure 1.), therefore skilled vs. non-skilled is a moot point. While the statistics do reflect unemployment in all areas, what is significant is the difference in the percentage of unemployed. The significance being: non-skilled workers not only have a much higher unemployment rate than those with an advanced degree (15.9% vs. 3.2% respectively), but the increase during the Great Recession is greater as well (5.6% vs. 1.5%). Additionally, Shierholz (2014) asserts that unemployed workers dramatically outnumber job openings in all sectors (Figure 2.) Again, what should be of importance is the difference in workers versus job openings for each sector. As an example, and according to her own statistics, the percentage gap for professional and business services is approximately 55%. However, the percentage gap for construction unemployed versus job openings is a massive 90%. The difference is obvious. “Skills mismatch” is real and exists in the current economic environment.

Over the years many companies have been dealing with hiring new employees that poses the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need to fill jobs (Labi, 2014). Globally there will be a shortage of 38 to 40 million high skilled workers in 2020 (ASTD, 2012). With those amounts of shortages of workers many think they need to do something to address those shortages. There are varying ideas that groups are throwing around as ways to debunk the skills gap and exactly where there is a skills gap. Some say that businesses need to develop programs with colleges to teach the skills needed in the workforce. Others have the idea that the government needs to work with businesses and colleges to teach the skills. Lastly some think that the way we

A demand-supply gap is also driving talent management. In some cases, companies are unable to fill positions that require high managerial or technical competency. This is at a time when such competencies are vital to the survival of the company due to the complexity of the operating environment. One source of low labor supply in developed countries is falling and aging populations. Another source of labor shortage is the mismatch between training and real work requirement, especially in the emerging economies. This problem is common in new fields, since universities take long to re-orient their curriculum to the needs of industry. Furthermore, even in developed economies, rapid changes in technology have rendered some jobs and skills redundant. New skills, which the worker may be unable or unwilling to learn, are required to

The higher the GDP the higher is the country’s standards of living and the lower the GDP the lower is the country’s standard of living. According to (Abuqamar, Coomans, & Louckx, 2011), unemployment is an important factor in measuring country’s economic strength like GDP per capita. If the unemployment level is high, then economic growth is very low because they have a negative relationship. A sustainable growth accompanied by macroeconomic policies that promotes employment will eventually cut down the level of unemployment in the economy and growth is considered as a solution to decrease unemployment (Hussain, Siddiqi, & Iqbal, 2010). This is true because when government wants to increase output by building infrastructures and the like. They create job opportunities for those who are unemployed thus, alleviating unemployment in the economy. More people will get jobs and earn to sustain their standard of living or even increase their standard of living depending on their salaries.

When it comes to labor markets and the need for employees, as we have learned so far in this course the amount of employees needed for any given produced product will depend on supply and demand. When demand is low then the need for certain employees will not be needed. This then creates unemployment. When looking at some of the things that governments might try to help employ their citizens, it can actually hurt more than it can help sometimes. Full employment is without a doubt the ultimate goal of every nation; however, in spite of the failures of controlled labor markets over the past thirty years there is still a lot of controversy about what the government should “do” about unemployment. Unfortunately the unintended consequences of much of what we ask government to “do” to create jobs only make unemployment worse.

Money is essential to any individual looking to have a decent lifestyle; labor is the avenue through which this is acquired. The economy goes through various fluctuations in activity causing unemployment to fall, rise, or level out. What this creates is the first type of unemployment, known as cyclical; frictional is the second type, caused by a temporary leave (for whatever reason) by the employee, and structural is the third type, varying with the economic changes in demand. The absence of unemployment at its maximum level is termed full employment, another version of unemployment. The term encompassing the sum of the frictional, structural, and, yet another type of unemployment, surplus unemployment is that of the natural rate of