The economic recovery in the US in 2011 has been characterized as a jobless recovery and the primary factor contributing to this is the structural unemployment that is present in the country. The figures best speak for themselves both as to the existence of structural unemployment and the importance this is getting in the United States in socio-economic terms.
The data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistic in January 2012, reflecting the employment in November 2011, showed that the unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent, while the number of unemployed people decreased by 594,000. At the same time, however, while the number of job vacancies increased by 35 % since the lowest level reached in June 2009, unemployment decreased by only 9.4 %, a significantly lower level (The Threat of Structural Unemployment, 2012). The respective difference in figures can be translated through the increased proportion of structural unemployment in the overall unemployment figures.
While estimating structural unemployment is difficult, most figures place somewhere around 8 %. In an absolute value, this has no particular mean, but if we are to look at this comparatively, structural unemployment had generally remained at values around 2 % through the past decades (Salmon, 2011). We can thus point towards an accelerated growth of structural unemployment in the last years, as a consequence not only of the economic crisis (more directly linked with cyclical evolutions of unemployment), but
fallen 0.6% since August of 2011. The release by BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) also shows
Beginning with unemployment in the 2007-2009 recession, U.S. unemployment rates peaked at 10% as well as held 41 consecutive months at rates higher than eight percent (Lazear 1). The U.S. economy plummeted during this time; many attributed the shift to a large decrease in the number of employed workers. To be able to better understand the unemployment issue, we must first examine the form of unemployment faced by the U.S. economy. Many believe that the changes faced by the U.S. labor market
The Depression was a gruesome time where people had worked relentlessly to survive. Unemployment today is as severe as it was in the 1930s, the unemployment rate of today is nowhere near the unemployment of the Great Depression. A pair of economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas created report called “A Historical Look at the Labor Market During Recessions”. The report is a graph of the WWII Recession, showing that the unemployment rate of a few years ago has past the unemployment rate of the WWII Recession. In 2008 the authors wrote the Unemployment Rate, it’s a report that describes the recessions of the past to the years of 2006 to 2011. The most of the recessions are above or near the average, but the highest recession is the Great Depression.
Since the early 2000’s the unemployment rates of the United States have been constantly changing. For most of this time unemployment rates were increasing at a quick pace as the country was dealing with internal financial issues of its own. When people are out of work the rates of depression and crime seem to skyrocket. This is due to the lack of funds coming into a home which result in some less than admirable acts being committed. There are many causes of unemployment and many effects that unemployment can have on not only our economy, but our personal lives as well.
Educating oneself about the economy is a rigorous task seeing as it has several different aspects to it. Unemployment and the related topics in the chapter sparked an interest within me. Fortunately, I was able to find an article that covered this topic in a state I’ve come to love- California. The article, “California adds 54,200 jobs in May; unemployment rate ticks up to 6.4%”, provides visual representation of the data stated and provides quotes and opinions from people among the Californian population. This produces additional support for the article. The fact that the situation is occurring in California, along with visual representations, gave reason for my decision in choosing this article.
The unemployment rate averaged 8.5% in 1975, almost 10% in 1982, and has been above 8.8% for more than two years, with little evidence of any improvement ahead.”
During the great recession era that began in late-2007 and lasted until mid-2009, the labor market took a major loss. The reasons that caused the labor market to plummet during this time frame were due to unemployment, a decrease in income and lack of education. Despite the efforts from the government to help as much as possible, the labor market had taken the worst hit and was at its lowest since the last three decades. It is important for everyone to understand what a weak labor market can result in. In this paper, I will discuss these findings and what impact they had on the labor market to weaken it to such a low point.
While there are expectations of a yearly gain of nearly 2.3 million net new jobs, the unemployment rate is still very high i.e. around 6.5 percent. The lower-than-expected job growth is fueled by various factors including government hiring, weather, and Obamacare. Actually, similar to December, January had a lower-than expected increase in job opportunities since only 113,000 jobs were created. However, the rate of unemployment still reduced to 6.6 percent in this month despite of the growth in labor force. The current rate of unemployment is the lowest in U.S. since the 2008 recession because more people are leaving the labor force instead of finding jobs.
The U.S. job market is currently under siege. The global market shows no mercy and America is not an exception. Ever since the “Great Recession” of the late 2000s, millions of people have been out of a job. According to a chart on the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, a federally managed website, there are still large amounts of unemployed people in some states: Many states in the U.S. still have an unemployment rate of over five percent (“Unemployment”). The United States needs to create more jobs. The economy is not in its best shape due to the multitude of job cuts in the U.S. workforce. There are many reasons that have contributed to the catastrophe of America’s workforce, but there are also plenty of solutions. The United States economy has too few of jobs to satisfy the global demand, but there are many strategies involving both business and government that can solve this problem.
The United States economy experienced a recession starting in December 2007 and ending in June 2009 as reported by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The employment market was directly impacted as evidenced by the growth in unemployment rate. Employers reduced staffing to cut costs and protect profit margins. In doing so, employers combined approximately 2-3 worker’s positions into one, shifting the required skills and values into one all-encompassing position.
But as I will show, a sustained expansion in the economy lasting, now, 13 years has reduced current unemployment to unusually low levels. The gains in reducing unemployment are evident even in the most problematic areas, such as youth unemployment, long-term unemployment and poor employment opportunities for older workers. Unemployment is not a precise concept. This is true even in countries, such as Australia, where most production of goods and services is done through the formal economy, and most people work for
During the past few recessions, government ran expansionary policies, but the duration of unemployment has risen. What does this suggest about the change in structural unemployment over this time period?
Very interesting, I believe we are all experience frictional unemployment and Structural unemployment, since, many IT or pharmaceutical manufacturers companies are outsourcing their jobs to China, Brazil and Russian. Now for the job market, it's even hard for an individual who has experience in the workforce is even having trouble finding a good paying job. For example, when I was let go back in 2011 after, having a well pay salary it's taken me over five years to bounce back to a well-paying job. Times have change and employers also change, therefore, it will take a long time to see our American economy/workforce back on track.
The United States is currently experiencing a slow recovery from the recession of 2008-09. The current unemployment rate is 7.7%, which is the lowest level since December of 2008 (BLS, 2012). However, this rate is believed to higher than the rate that would occur if the economy was operating at peak efficiency, and it is also believed that there are structural issues still underpinning this performance. For example, the number of Americans who have exited the work force as the result of prolonged unemployment is believed to be higher than usual. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2012) notes that long-term unemployment of greater than 26 weeks is at a much higher rate than normal, which will have adverse long-run effects on the economy, since workers with long-term unemployment often find their career paths derailed.
Unemployment has always been something that Americans have worried about since the great depression in which one in every four people was unemployed. High unemployment has an impact on every one even those whom are still currently employed. For example if the unemployment rate is particular high then even those with jobs get worried. Unemployment is also separated in to distinct categories base on which group is the focus of the study. The categories can be by race, age or location, for example the unemployment rate of those between the age of sixty and sixty-five could be compared those between the ages of thirty and thirty-five. These categories allow economist to see which groups are the best and which groups are worst off. One group