Daniela Torres
Mrs. Straub
Economics
9/30/2014
Unemployment in the U.S
For years we had to face the challenge of not having enough jobs, and having a full family to feed. In history with the great depression and recessions, and also in recent years with a new recession. Many United States citizens have been fired from their jobs, and have been looking for a new job to support their family. Not having a job then throws the demand down for every family, thus throwing off the economy.
Many may argue that there have been jobs added to the industry in the past few years since the recessions. Although there have been 217,000 amount of jobs added, it is mostly resturant based jobs. There is nothing wrong with restaurant jobs, but with those franchises the economy is not able to manufacture what it really needs to be able to supply goods for the people, thus the Economy cannot be boosted with only restaurant jobs. Not only do we have this problem, but families then have to face an opportunity cost to either wait and find a better paying job, or to just apply for a job so that they can support their family.
As if that wasn't enough the media is telling us that the percentage of unemployment is only at 6.3%. One thing they don't take into consideration, so says economyincrisis.org, “The system doesn’t take into account of the people who: have been out of work for more than a year, those in part-time positions who really would rather be in full time position, and those who have given up on finding a job. If the Government would consider these three groups into account the unemployment rate would be 23%”(Mills). This shows the real unemployment rate that exist in the United States. The more unemployment rate the more crisis because there is not enough workers to provide the supply that is needed.
The unemployment is something that is always in the back of our mind, but yet there is nothing being done about this problem. We need more jobs in the factories to provide more supply because the demand is only getting higher from now on. At the rate that we are going, the unemployment rate is just going to increase if the only jobs that are opening are jobs that don't require an education, like restaurant jobs.
"Employment Situation Summary." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.n
"Employment Situation Summary." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.n
"Major Problems Facing the American Economy and Country Today | Economy In Crisis." Economy In Crisis Major Problems Facing the American Economy and Country Today Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. <http://economyincrisis.org/content/major-problems-facing-our-country-today>.
"The Real Jobs Report: “Free Trade” Kills American Manufacturing | Economy In Crisis." Economy In Crisis The Real Jobs Report Free Trade Kills American Manufacturing Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. <http://economyincrisis.org/content/the-real-jobs-report-free-trade-kills-american-manufacturing>.
One problem that may be stopping the United States from gaining jobs in the right industry could be the lack of skills by workers. With college tuitiion being at a higher rate than it has ever been, people may be detured from getting an education. Without a college education they only have the skills to apply for low level jobs. In Wisconsin there is a two year tuition freeze of UW schools thus this may help with college enrollment and produce workers that can perform occupations in industries that require workers with a high skill set. All you need is one person to perform a job well to increase business and create a need for companies to hire additional workers.
ReplyDeleteUnemployment may also be caused by the price floor on wages, as nobody can be paid less than $7.25 in Wisconsin. This decreases the company's quantity demanded for workers, and inevitably leads to a surplus of workers (aka unemployment). The other problem is many people aren't entirely sure how to get a job, or are stuck in a loop where they cannot get a job, in which case the government should be helping to redistribute incomes to create a better distribution for society.
ReplyDeleteDaniela, I thought that you did a good job of explaining how the unemployment rate affects the economy, but it would be interesting to see what markets, such as food manufacturing, the auto industry and clothing industry, should be creating jobs and how hiring workers in those markets would boost the economy. I also found the paragraph about the ‘real’ unemployment rate to be shocking, because of the difference between the 6.3% that we all know and the actual number of people not working in the United States.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your writing on the unemployment rate, because it is such an extreme problem in our country still today. One thing that may be limiting the amount of jobs citizens can take on is the lack of education through generations. Due to prices in many goods increasing on a daily basis, the struggle of money continues to rise, which limits the amount of education individuals can receive. Looking at college tuition, prices whether in state or out of state, payments are extremely high which again creates problems for getting a proper education. If prices begin to lower and our country becomes more conscientious spenders, the unemployment rates could increase due to a better education overall.
ReplyDeleteWow! That statistic about the “actual” unemployment rate is crazy, and I do agree that something needs to be done about it, and the government needs to create more jobs that people can fill. But I don’t completely agree on the idea that we aren’t getting as many supplies and resources because of this. The reason why I think this way is because of the advancements in technology. The people that were working at factories got replaced by a machine that costs less, is more efficient, and can produce things much faster than a human worker; and again going back to the idea of the people needing supporting jobs, it is important. Maybe they do take more of a customer service job to help support, and let the factories use the technology and machines. That’s just how our world is, always about bigger and better, and technology does that for us.
ReplyDeleteDaniela, this was a very interesting and relative topic to have chosen. I think you effectively portrayed the effect that unemployment has on the United States economy as this is such a pressing issue. However, doesn't this issue also fall on our nation's industries? If different manufacturing industries worked harder to generate jobs for the public, isn't there a possibility that we might not have as severe a problem?
ReplyDelete