The Catastrophe Of The US Economy

Employers are not hiring any new help right now until they are sure that the economy will stay strong and not fall back down again. Many employers will fight against giving an individual unemployment benefits to help save them money on their unemployment insurance rates. The insurance rates are based upon the amount of benefits the unemployed receive. People will find it surprising that their unemployment benefits are being challenged. Employers will try to deny a claim but if one is successful, the cost of the company will raise. Unemployment benefits are not only for the people who have lost their jobs due to company downsizing but to people who have resigned or who were discharged for a reason beyond their control. The benefits are given to people who are unemployed with the intension of seeking new employment. The benefits usually come in small amounts to cover basic needs. You may receive unemployment benefit extensions for an additional thirty-four to fifty-three weeks during high unemployment. While receiving unemployment benefits, you have the option to have taxes taken out of each check as you receive them or you will have to pay at the end of the year when you file

The probability of the number of Americans that struggle with joblessness and being poor throughout their lifetime is still high. According to the Associated Press, Four out of five Americans struggle without jobs, close to poverty, or relying on welfare for at least parts of their life. We can only say the percentage of people facing those problems at least once in their life, not the percentage of people going through it now. This cant be figured by itself because you'd have to know if economic security troubles were lower than 80% before. In 2001, Rank and Hirschl used PSID data to see that 51% of Americans go through poverty at some point in their life. A small majority of American still spend at least a year of their adult life in poverty.

Today American citizens undeniably face some of the nation’s greatest challenges. No matter the issue, there will be consequences as a result. A great issue as voted by most Americans is believed to be the high percentage rate of unemployment. Unemployment is a distressingly bad aspect, and unfortunately it is a daily normality and struggle for most individuals. There are a plethora of reasons why unemployment is intensively high; frictional, structural and voluntary unemployment for example, serve as major purposes to the leading cause of high unemployment. Frictional unemployment occurs from the amount of time spent in finding new employment in the free market. For example, a recent university graduate may not necessarily expect to find a job of their expertise and skills right away therefore the job hunt continues. This also occurs whereas people choose to be unemployed rather than accepting the first job that comes around or are in between jobs because they have become inessential or simply looking for a better, beneficial career. Structural unemployment occurs due to inconsistent labor skills such as occupational immobility where learning a new skill required for a certain occupation is complicated. For example an unemployed mechanic will struggle to find an occupation in the medical industry because of the difference in occupational knowledge. Geographical immobility

Several years ago the economy in the United States took a real turn for the worst. It was one of the biggest economical down falls in history. Many people lost their homes toforeclosure when they became unable to make their mortgage payments. There are many reasons that people suddenly became unable to make their payments. As the unemployment rate increased from 5% in December of 2007 to 10.01% in October of 2009 (Bureau of Labor Statistics) many people lost their jobs. Another cause was that people had entered into bad loans with interest only or ballooning payment loans these types of loans were very common lending practice. Then when the housing market crashed people found themselves upside down in their loans, meaning that they now owed two or three times the value of their home. These are among some of the reasons people lost their homes. Now that the economy is starting to turn around and the federal government has kept the interest rates low.Is there any hope for all these people that have lost their homes to recover and own a home again?

During the Great Depression, the stock market had crashed horribly and the country was in financial crisis at the time. Many people, were out looking for jobs to help their country. Most importantly, what got the country back on its feet was the fact that many people went from the status of being unemployed to employed. But now it seems like America is having a minor unemployment crisis that is not as major as the Great Depression, but one that should definitely not be overlooked. Strangely enough, this crisis has become extremely controversial on how to properly correct the situation. Seeing as the rates of unemployment only seems to increase, the question of forcing citizens to work is an alternative solution. Moreover, the unemployment crisis

The line graph compares the number of people who unemployed in the US and Japan between March-1993 and March 1999.

People are retiring later, adolescents are finding it difficult to get employed, and poverty rates are through the roof. Surely, these are not signs of a booming economy, but rather the opposite. Top notch economists have debated whether or not the American economy has improved over the years, but when one dives deep into research, he can see that the cornerstone of the United States’ economy is about to fail. Not only should the government take a step back from further disrupting the economy, but they should rather help find ways to grow it through producing goods in America and by supporting new businesses to decrease the unemployment rate. A team working for Goldman Sachs states that America is the best working economy in the world, but they didn’t do enough research. If the stock market is a success, it only shows big companies are doing well, not the new and smaller businesses. Furthermore, America should pay more attention to manufacturing goods in its own country in order to decrease the unemployment rate and help lower the amount of debt the United States owes.

The United States today is a paradox, where corporations prosper despite the dire economic state of the rest of the country (Reich, 519-520). This paradox continues to remain true, despite any individual effort a person may make. As Robert Reich, a political economist and professor at Berkeley concludes, this is because the workforce is shifting from the manufacturing industry to service jobs and mostly, jobs that require college degrees(519-521). Presently in the U.S., one 's competitive position in the world economy is starting to depend one’s function, and in this environment, the rich prosper (Reich, 519-520). In response to this situation, many now view a college degree as a key to success, and are seeking out higher education.

America’s workforce is below average. Well, it does sound like a crazy statement, but America’s job market is more gilded than we thought. With over 5.6 million job openings reported by both the Bureau of Labor Statistics and CNN.com, job growth has no signs of stopping. This is due to the persistent component that hasn’t been addressed, which, you guessed it, is our unskilled workers. Also known as the skills gap issue, many employers find it difficult to obtain enough workers who are qualified for their vacancies which results in a loss of potential profits.

First, in order to better understand the scale of the problem let’s take a closer look at the numbers. Since late 2007, nearly 8.5 million jobs were lost; in

If we cannot count on American companies to provide Americans with jobs, just whom can we count on? The unemployment rate hit 10.2% in October 2009. This is only the second time since WWII that joblessness in America has topped 10%. Certainly the use of technology to increase productivity accounts for some of the unemployment rate; however, another major factor in the high unemployment rate is companies engaging in offshoring (“10% jobless is tougher than it used to be,” 2009, p. A7).

The origin of the industrial revolution, which later made America the greatest economy in the world, had its roots in America’s advanced position in science and innovation. Ford’s Assembly line is one such example of innovation; it resulted in mass-production and made America the largest manufacturing country in the world. Manufacturing industries than became the foundation of economic growth, and provided jobs to many Americans and immigrants. United States retained its position as the the largest manufacturing country for over a century, but in 2009, China became the leading producer of manufactured goods. Unfortunately, losing the position of top producer to China, impaired US economy. Thus, weak economy, off shoring and automation have jeopardize the future of American workforce. However, there is still hope. Since, science and innovation were the foundation of America’s prosperity, they will also be the source of its restoration. Hence, the solution lies in training the workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), increasing basic and applied research, and increasing high school and college literacy, along with government tax and trade policies.

Overall activity in our nation’s manufacturing sector has declined and in recent years to the lowest level in more than two decades. Thus, the declines resulted in increased unemployment rates among the manufacturing industry in the U.S. One cause of the joblessness increase is because companies employ worker’s that are so productive that fewer employees are required to produce more goods. Ultimately, the U.S. economy is no longer manufacturing-based; rather, nearly 85 percent of U.S. jobs now come from the service sector.

The American government has made dramatic changes in its role in the economy in the past. During the great depression unemployment soared to twentyfive percent and the government was forced to take a more hands on approach in directing the economy. Today, America still has an unemployment compensation system, social security, and other services that comprise the american safety net. Since the early 2000’s there has a steady increase in unemployment for recent college graduates and an increase in the number of people who consider themselves underemployed. However, according to Derek Thompson, this may not be such a severe issue as to require government intervention. Thompson acknowledges some discouraging statistics such as the fact that,

At the end of 2012 the National Unemployment Rate was 7.8% (“Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey”) and employers were struck with the daunting task of filling 3.6 million job openings (Smith.) In an article for Forbes on the subject of the daunting prospect of the job search, Jacquelyn Smith shares this startling fact: “The average number of people who apply for any given job: 118.” With the downturn in the economy in recent years, candidates for any given job can include inexperienced job seekers, seasoned competitive candidates, and even those who are looking to start their second or third career. The job market is flooded. Employers are overwhelmed by the sheer number of applicants, sometimes willing to compromise