The Reality of Unemployment Essay

In any economy, no matter whether it is controlled by the government or by free markets, people need to work in order to support it. The government does not generate tax revenue by magic. There have to be people in that economy earning an income to ensure that the government continues to collect taxes. In a free market economy, the same applies because there are some services which only an organized government can supply (such as protection from extra-national threats), but there also those which the people get for themselves because of the working of the markets. In any scenario, unemployment is, at the very least, a drag on the economy, and it can be much worse. This paper examines how the unemployment rate in the United States is underreported, and how that fact effects the sluggishness of the present economy.

A condition that has existed since the beginning of commercialization, unemployment has been in our history since its monumental recognition in 1929. The Great Depression is really when unemployment became a real issue and its highest peaks where between 1932 and early 1933 when the average rate of unemployment was 24.9%. Fast forward almost 80 years and unemployment is still a political issue whose rate has experienced a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows. Unemployment has many forms, but it is technological unemployment, that is a crisis which if declined will lead to an excellent and a benevolent rise to our nation’s economy.

The unemployment rate has dramatically increased over the last several months. This increase has created many complications for the American people. Although the United States economy has created over 7 million jobs, there is still a long way to go until the economy is back on track.

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

In addition, opponents of the dream act claim that the 800,000 young people that qualified for DACA are taking jobs that belong to U.S. citizens. The dreamers have a tough fight ahead of them as attorney general Jeff Sessions went on to attack the dreamers uncompanionably by explaining that, because of them “hundreds of thousands of jobs were denied to U.s workers and given to the DACA beneficiaries. The statement made by the attorney general implies that there is an exact number of us jobs available and that the millions of Americans who are currently unemployed can blame fully blame the dreamers without taking into consideration the many factors that contribute to the unemployment of Americans. However it is important to note that the general failed to provide evidence or statistics to support his claim. Therefore, I will point out limitation to his argument by providing clear statistics that show that, the US labor market has been relatively healthy in recent years and even continues to improve. To illustrate, the graph below represents the US unemployment rate. The graph shows that, the US experienced a steady decline in the national unemployment rate, and according to data released in September by the US department of labor, there is an estimated 6.17 million job openings as of July 2017.

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.

There are many different age brackets, genders, and ethnicity that make up unemployment in the labor force. Some of the same people who were once in the labor force also make up the workers who are not counted in the labor force anymore. Unemployment is important to the economy and the society that we live in because the more people without any jobs and/or not having a legitimate source of income will increase crime, poverty, political unsteadiness, downgrade health standards, and mental health problems. Unemployment can also cause underemployment which is not good for the economy. Underemployment, in one of its usage, is defined as the employment of

Unemployment is considered the key indicator of a nation's economy and high unemployment rates will send shock waves through the economy. Unemployed individuals don't have expendable income which translates to a cut back in non-necessary spending which means a loss of sales tax revenue. The fewer individuals with decent paying jobs translate into fewer individuals making investments due to fear of financial security. Nations that are not financially stable creates a financial system with little confidence within the marketplace which will lead to a downturn in stock market value. Unemployed individuals are not paying state and federal taxes but instead sucking money out of the economy. Unemployed people will utilize unemployment insurance which will increase state deficits. Increases in unemployment insurance claims cause states to raise taxes to make up for the lost revenue created from unemployment. 45% of mortgage foreclosures is created by unemployment. Unemployment propels bankruptcy rates and foreclosure rates to rise. High foreclosure rates will lead to home values to fall. The impact of poverty is vast as nations have to raise taxes to absorb the impact which will create an economic spiral which will decrease investment, drive down the stock market value, slow spending due to concerns about financial security which translates to poor economic growth (Hudson,

Sociologists study human society. Their studies include human behavior in many social contexts such as social interaction, social institutions and organization, social change and development (Abraham). Because of the broad spectrum of social circumstances that are studied, unemployment is an issue in which sociologists thrive. Conflict in the areas of age, race, gender, and disability is common among the employed as well as the unemployed.  From a sociological perspective, unemployment can be studied through both the Functionalist Theory and Conflict Theory.  It also touches upon the results of unemployment in societies and institutions such as family, education, government, and health. Unemployment affects almost everyone to some extent

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.

Both the Keynesian and Neoliberal era came into existence as an aftermath of both an economic crisis and a war. Keynesianism came after the Second World War when the then neoclassical economy was in crisis. This crisis brought forth Keynesianism with the underlying disbelief in the self-regulating nature of capitalism. The Keynesian ideology believed in increased state intervention to produce economic stability. This policy rested on four policy prescription; full employment; a social safety net; increased labor rights; and investment policies were to be left to private enterprises. Keynesianism’s subsequent inability to deal with the unexpected inflation caused by two international oil crises and during the period of the

Research has shown the links between unemployment and higher morbidity and mortality rates( Mathers and Schofield) where health outcomes are poorer and premature deaths are

Downsizing, restructuring, rightsizing, even a term as obscure as census readjustment has been used to describe the plague that has been affecting corporate America for years and has left many of its hardest working employees without work. In the year 2001 we had nearly 1.8 million jub cuts, that’s almost three times as much as the year 2000(Matthew Benz). In the 1990's, one million managers of American corporations with salaries over $40,000 also lost their jobs. In total, Fortune 500 companies have eliminated 4.4 million positions since 1979 including the 65,000 positions cut in February of 2002 (Ellen Florian). Although this downsizing of companies can have many reasons behind it and cannot be

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